No Arabic abstract
The low temperature specific heat C(B,T) of an YBa2Cu3O7.00 single crystal is measured from 1.2 to 10 K in magnetic fields up to 14 T. The anisotropic component Caniso(T,B)=C(T,B//c)-C(T,B//ab) is a pure vortex quantity obtained directly from experiment. It follows a scaling relation predicted recently for line nodes characteristic of d-wave vortices. Our experimental field and temperature range corresponds to a crossover region where the limit Caniso(T,B)is proportional to T*sqrt(B) does not strictly apply. The variation of the entropy caused by the magnetic field at low T is thermodynamically compatible with measurements near Tc.
The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat cp(T,H) in the superconducting mixed state as well as the upper critical field Hc2(T) have been measured for polycrystalline Y_xLu_{1-x}Ni_2B_2C and Y(Ni_{1-y}Pt_y)_2B_2C samples. The linear-in-T electronic specific heat contribution gamma(H)T exhibits significant deviations from the usual linear-in-H law for all x and y the transition metal site (T) resulting in a disorder dependent negative curvature of gamma(H). The deviations from that linear behaviour of our unsubstituted samples are the largest reported so far for any superconductor. The H_c2(T) data point to the quasi-clean limit for (Y,Lu)-substitutions and to a transition to the quasi-dirty limit for (Ni,Pt)-substitutions. The gamma(H) dependence is discussed in the unitary d-wave as well as in the quasi-clean s-wave limits. From a consideration of gamma(H) data only, d-wave pairing cannot be ruled out.
We show that the low-energy density of quasiparticle states in the mixed state of ultra-clean d-wave superconductors is characterized by pronounced quantum oscillations in the regime where the cyclotron frequency $hbaromega_c ll Delta_0$, the d-wave pairing gap. Such oscillations as a function of magnetic field B are argued to be due to the internodal scattering of the d-wave quasiparticles near wavevectors $(pm k_D,pm k_D)$ by the vortex lattice as well as their Zeeman coupling. The periodicity of the oscillations is set by the condition $k_D sqrt{hc/(eB)} equiv k_D sqrt{hc/(eB)}pmod {2pi}$. We find that there is additional structure within each period which grows in complexity as the Dirac node anisotropy increases.
Very recently impurity scattering effects on quasiparticles in d-wave superconductors have attracted much attention. Especially, the thermodynamic properties in magnetic fields H are of interest. We have measured the low-temperature specific heat C(T,H) of La_1.78Sr_0.22Cu_1-xNi_xO4. For the first time, the impurity scattering effects on C(T,H) of cuprate superconductors were clearly observed, and are compared with theory of d-wave superconductivity. It is found that impurity scattering leads to gamma(H)=gamma(0)(1+D((H/H_c2)(ln(H_c2/H)) in small magnetic fields. Most amazingly, the scaling of C(T,H) breaks down due to impurity scattering.
The strong power law behavior of the specific heat jump $Delta C$ vs. $T_c$ ($Delta C/T_c sim T_c ^{alpha}, alphaapprox 2$), first observed by Budko, Ni, and Canfield (BNC)[1], has been confirmed with several families of the Fe-based superconducting compounds with a series of doping. We show here that this anomalous non-BCS behavior is an intrinsic property of the multiband superconducting state paired by a dominant interband interaction ($V_{inter} > V_{intra}$) reflecting the relation $frac{Delta_h}{Delta_e} sim sqrt{frac{N_e}{N_h}}$ near $T_c$, as in the $pm$S-wave pairing state. Then this $Delta C$ vs. $T_c$ relation can continuously change from the perfect BNC scaling to a considerable deviation at lower $T_c$ region with a moderate variation of the impurity scattering rate.
Low-energy quasiparticle (QP) excitations in the heavy-fermion superconductor URu$_2$Si$_2$ were investigated by specific-heat $C(T, H, phi, theta)$ measurements of a high-quality single crystal. The occurrence of QP excitations due to the Doppler-shift effect was detected regardless of the field direction in $C(H)$ of the present clean sample, which is in sharp contrast to a previous report. Furthermore, the polar-angle-dependent $C(theta)$ measured under a rotating magnetic field within the ac plane exhibits a shoulder-like anomaly at $theta sim 45$ deg and a sharp dip at $theta = 90$ deg ($H parallel a$) in the moderate-field region. These features are supported by theoretical analyses based on microscopic calculations assuming the gap symmetry of $k_z(k_x+ik_y)$, whose gap structure is characterized by a combination of a horizontal line node at the equator and point nodes at the poles. The present results have settled the previous controversy over the gap structure of URu$_2$Si$_2$ and have authenticated its chiral $d$-wave superconductivity.