No Arabic abstract
We present a systematic study of the response properties of two-band (multi-gap) superconductors with spin-singlet (s-wave) pairing correlations, which are assumed to be caused by both intraband (lambda_{ii}, i=1,2) and interband (lambda_{12}) pairing interactions. In this first of three planned publications we concentrate on the properties of such superconducting systems in global and local thermodynamic equilibrium, the latter including weak perturbations in the stationary long-wavelength limit. The discussion of global thermodynamic equilibrium must include the solution (analytical in the Ginzburg-Landau and the low temperature limit) of the coupled self-consistency equations for the two energy gaps Delta_i(T), i=1,2. These solutions allow to study non-universal behavior of the two relevant BCS-Muhlschlegel parameters, namely the specific heat discontinuity Delta C/C_N and the zero temperature gaps Delta_i(0)/pi k_B T_c, i=1,2. The discussion of a local equilibrium situation includes the calculation of the supercurrent density as a property of the condensate, and the calculation of both the specific heat capacity and the spin susceptibility as properties of the gas of thermal excitations in the spirit of a microscopic two-fluid description. Non-monotonic behavior in the temperature dependences of the gaps and all these local response functions is predicted to occur particularly for very small values of the interband pair-coupling constant lambda_{12}.
A two-fluid model is proposed to describe the transport properties of granular superconductors. Using the resistively shunted junction model and some aspects of the two-level system theory, a statistical model is developed which takes into account the ratio between the number of normal and superconducting electrons carrying the applied current. The theoretical model reveals excellent agreement when compared to transport properties of four high-Tc superconductors. The results suggest that the two-fluid model is independent of the sample composition, critical temperature and whether the superconducting compound is electron or hole-doped.
We present a microscopic study of the behavior of the order parameters near boundaries of a two-band superconducting material, described by the standard tight-binding Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer model. We find superconducting surface states. The relative difference between bulk and surface critical temperatures is a nontrivial function of the interband coupling strength. For superconductors with weak interband coupling, boundaries induce variations of the gaps with the presence of multiple length scales, despite non-zero interband Josephson coupling.
A model of a clean two-band s-wave superconductor with cylindrical Fermi surfaces, different Fermi velocities v_{1,2}, and a general 2x2 coupling matrix V_{alpha beta} is used to study the order parameter distribution in vortex lattices. The Eilenberger weak coupling formalism is used to calculate numerically the spatial distributions of the pairing amplitudes Delta_1_ and Delta_2_ of the two bands for vortices parallel to the Fermi cylinders. For generic values of the interband coupling V_{12}, it is shown that, independently of the couplings V_{alpha beta}, of the ratio v_1 /v_2, of the temperature, and the applied field, the length scales of spatial variation of Delta_1 and of Delta_2 are the same within the accuracy of our calculations. The only exception from this single length-scale behavior is found for V_{12} --> 0, i.e., for nearly decoupled bands.
Evidence from NMR of a two-component spin system in cuprate high-$T_c$ superconductors is shown to be paralleled by similar evidence from the electronic entropy so that a two-component quasiparticle fluid is implicated. We propose that this two-component scenario is restricted to the optimal and underdoped regimes and arises from the upper and lower branches of the reconstructed energy-momentum dispersion proposed by Yang, Rice and Zhang (YRZ) to describe the pseudogap. We calculate the spin susceptibility within the YRZ formalism and show that the doping and temperature dependence reproduces the experimental data for the cuprates.
Based on a two-band model, we study the electronic Raman scattering intensity in both normal and superconducting states of iron-pnictide superconductors. For the normal state, due to the match or mismatch of the symmetries between band hybridization and Raman vertex, it is predicted that overall $B_{1g}$ Raman intensity should be much weaker than that of the $B_{2g}$ channel. Moreover, in the non-resonant regime, there should exhibit a interband excitation peak at frequency $omegasimeq 7.3 t_1 (6.8t_1)$ in the $B_{1g}$ ($B_{2g}$) channel. For the superconducting state, it is shown that $beta$-band contributes most to the $B_{2g}$ Raman intensity as a result of multiple effects of Raman vertex, gap symmetry, and Fermi surface topology. Both extended $s$- and $d_{xy}$-wave pairings in the unfolded BZ can give a good description to the reported $B_{2g}$ Raman data [Muschler {em et al.}, Phys. Rev. B. {bf 80}, 180510 (2009).], while $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave pairing in the unfolded BZ seems to be ruled out.