No Arabic abstract
In strong-coupling superconductors with a short electron mean free path the self-energy effects in the superconducting order parameter play a major role in the phonon manifestation of the point-contact spectra at the above-gap energies. We derive asymptotic expressions of the phonon structure in MgB$%_{2}$ in the case $eVggDelta $ for tunnel, ballistic, and diffusive point-contacts and show that these expressions not only qualitatively, but also semi-quantitatively correspond to the measurements of the phonon structure in the point-contact spectra for the $pi$-band of MgB$_{2}$ c-axis oriented thin films.
In strong-coupling superconductors with a short electron mean free path the self-energy effects in the superconducting order parameter play a major role in the phonon manifestation of the point-contact spectra at above-gap energies. We compare the expressions for the nonlinear conductivity of tunnel, ballistic, and diffusive point-contacts and show that these expression are similar and correspond to the measurements of the phonon structure in the point-contact spectra for the $pi$-band of MgB$_{2}$.
We present a high energy-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering data investigation of the charge-density-wave (CDW) soft phonon mode upon entering the superconducting state in $2H$-NbSe$_2$. Measurements were done close to the CDW ordering wavevector $mathbf{q}_{CDW}$ at $mathbf{q}=mathbf{q}_{CDW}+(0,0,l)$,$0.15leq l leq 0.5$, for $T=10,rm{K}$ (CDW order) and $3.8,rm{K}$ (CDW order + superconductivity). We observe changes of the phonon lineshape that are characteristic for systems with strong electron-phonon coupling in the presence of a superconducting energy gap $2Delta_c$ and from which we can demonstrate an $l$-dependence of the superconducting gap. Reversely, our data imply that the CDW energy gap is strongly localized along the $c^*$ direction. The confinement of the CDW gap to a very small momentum region explains the rather low competition and easy coexistence of CDW order and superconductivity in $2H$-NbSe$_2$. However, the energy gained by opening $Delta_{CDW}$ seems to be too small to be the driving force of the phase transition at $T_{CDW}=33,rm{K}$ , which is better described as an electron-phonon coupling driven structural phase transition.
It is shown that the two-gap approximation is applicable for describing the $dV/dI(V)$ spectra of LuNi$_{2}$B$_{2}$C-Ag point contacts in a wide interval of temperatures. The values and the temperature dependences of the large and the small gaps in the $ab$ plane and in the $c$ direction were estimated using the generalized BTK model and the equations of Beloborodko. In the BCS extrapolation the critical temperature of the small gap is 10 $K$ in the $ab$ plane and 14.5 $K$ in the $c$ direction. The absolute values of the gaps are $Delta_0^{ab}=2.16$ $meV$ and $Delta_0^c=1.94$ $meV$. For the large gaps the critical temperature coincides with the bulk $T_c$, $T_c^{bulk}=16.8$ $K$, and their absolute values are very close, being about 3 $meV$ in both orientations. In the $c$ direction the contributions to the conductivity from the small and the large gaps remain practically identical up to $10 div 11$ $K$. In the $ab$ plane the contribution from the small gap is much smaller and decreases rapidly as a temperature rises.
We present study of derivatives of current-voltage I(V) characteristics of point-contacts (PCs) based on Ba{1-x}Na{x}Fe2As2 (x=0.25) in the normal and superconducting state. The detailed analysis of dV/dI(V) data (also given in Appendix A) shows that the thermal regime, when temperature increases with a voltage at a rate of about 1.8 K/mV, is realized in the investigated PCs at least at high biases V above the superconducting (SC) gap Delta. In this case, specific resistivity rho (T) in PC core is responsible for a peculiar dV/dI(V) behavior, while a pronounced asymmetry of dV/dI(V) is caused by large value of thermopower in this material. A reproducible zero-bias minima detected on dV/dI(V) at low biases in the range pm(6--9)mV well below the SC critical temperature T_c could be connected with the manifestation of the SC gap Delta. Evaluation of these Andreev-reflection-like structures on dV/dI(V) points out to the preferred value of 2Delta/kT_c approx 6. The expected second gap features on dV/dI(V) are hard to resolve unambiguously, likely due to impurity scattering, spatial inhomogeneity and transition to the mentioned thermal regime as the bias further increases. Suggestions are made how to separate spectroscopic features in dV/dI(V) from those caused by the thermal regime.
We have investigated the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the Hall coefficient of two well-characterized superconducting MgB$_2$ films (T$_{c0}$=38.0 K) in both the normal and superconducting states. Our results show that the normal-state Hall coefficient R$_H$ is positive and increases with decreasing temperature, independent of the applied magnetic field. Below T$_c$(H), R$_H$ decreases rapidly with temperature and changes sign before it reaches zero. The position and magnitude at which R$_H$ shows a minimum depends on the applied field. Quantitative analysis of our data indicates that the Hall response of MgB$_2$ behaves very similarly to that of high-T$_c$ cuprates: R$_H$ $propto$ T and cot$theta_H$ $propto$ T$^2$ in the normal state, and a sign reversal of R$_H$ in the mixed state. This suggests that the B-B layers in MgB$_2$, like the Cu-O planes in high-T$_c$ cuprates, play an important role in the electrical transport properties.