As a model for the vortex core in MgB2 we study a two band model with a clean sigma band and a dirty pi band. We present calculations of the vortex core size in both bands as a function of temperature and show that there exists a Kramer-Pesch effect in both bands even though only one of the bands is in the clean limit. We present calculations for different pi band diffusivities and coherence lengths.
The size of the vortex core in a clean superconductor is strongly temperature dependent and shrinks with decreasing temperature, decreasing to zero for T -> 0. We study this so-called Kramer-Pesch effect both for a single gap superconductor and for the case of a two gap superconductor using parameters appropriate for Magnesium Diboride. Usually, the Kramer-Pesch effect is absent in the dirty limit. Here, we show that the Kramer-Pesch effect exists in both bands of a two gap superconductor even if only one of the two bands is in the clean limit and the other band in the dirty limit, a case appropriate for MgB2. In this case an induced Kramer-Pesch effect appears in the dirty band. Besides numerical results we also present an analytical model for the spatial variation of the pairing potential in the vicinity of the vortex center that allows a simple calculation of the vortex core radius even in the limit T -> 0.
Quantized bound states at a vortex core are discretized in YNi$_2$B$_2$C. By using scanning tunneling spectroscopy with an unprecedented 0.1 nm spatial resolution, we find and identify the localized spectral structure, where in addition to the first main peak with a positive low energy, a second subpeak coming from the fourfold symmetric gap structure is seen inside the energy gap. Those spectral features are understood by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation for a fully three-dimensional gap structure. A particle-hole asymmetric spectrum at the core site and quantum oscillation in the spectra are clearly observed.
We theoretically investigate a non-magnetic impurity effect on the temperature dependence of the vortex core shrinkage (Kramer-Pesch effect) in a single-band s-wave superconductor. The Born limit and the unitary limit scattering are compared within the framework of the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity. We find that the impurity effect inside a vortex core in the unitary limit is weaker than in the Born one when a system is in the moderately clean regime, which results in a stronger core shrinkage in the unitary limit than in the Born one.
We derive augmented quasiclassical equations of superconductivity with the Lorentz force in the Matsubara formalism so that the charge redistribution due to supercurrent can be calculated quantitatively. Using it, we obtain an analytic expression for the vortex-core charge of an isolated vortex in extreme type-II materials given in terms of the London penetration depth and the equilibrium Hall coefficient. It depends strongly on the Fermi surface curvature and gap anisotropy, and may change sign even as a function of temperature due to the variation in the excitation curvature under the growing energy gap. This is also confirmed in our numerical study of high-$T_{rm c}$ superconductors.
The low-temperature shrinking of the vortex core (Kramer-Pesch effect) is studied for an isolated single vortex for chiral p-wave and s-wave superconducting phases. The effect of nonmagnetic impurities on the vortex core radius is numerically investigated in the Born limit by means of a quasiclassical approach. It is shown that in the chiral p-wave phase the Kramer-Pesch effect displays a certain robustness against impurities owing to a specific quantum effect, while the s-wave phase reacts more sensitively to impurity scattering. This suggests chiral p-wave superconductors as promising candidates for the experimental observation of the Kramer-Pesch effect.