Van der Waals interaction between flux lines in high- superconductors

In anisotropic or layered superconductors thermal fluctuations as well as impurities induce a van der Waals (vdW) attraction between flux lines, as has recently been shown by Blatter and Geshkenbein in the thermal case [#!BlatterGeshkenbein!#] and by Mukherji and Nattermann in the disorder dominated case [#!NattermannMukherji!#]. This attraction together with the entropic or disorder induced repulsion has interesting consequences for the low field phase diagram. We present two derivations of the vdW attraction, one of which is based on an intuitive picture, the other one following from a systematic expansion of the free energy of two interacting flux lines. Both the thermal and the disorder dominated case are considered. In the thermal case in the absence of disorder, we use scaling arguments as well as a functional renormalization of the vortex-vortex interaction energy to calculate the effective Gibbs free energy on the scale of the mean flux line distance. We discuss the resulting low field phase diagram and make quantitative predictions for pure BiSCCO (Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈). In the case with impurities, the Gibbs free energy is calculated on the basis of scaling arguments, allowing for a semi-quantitative discussion of the low-field, low-temperature phase diagram in the presence of impurities. Received: 9 February 1998 / Accepted: 17 April 1998     

Effects of crossed columnar defects on vortex pinning in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

To investigate the existence of a splay effect in Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ (Bi-2212), vortex pinning has been studied in different configurations of strongly inclined columnar defects (75 from the c axis), installed by heavy-ion irradiation. It is shown that the symmetry of the track setting with respect to the field direction is a more influent parameter than the presence of a dispersion in the track directions. We claim that the enhanced pinning efficiency which is observed in some splayed configurations of columnar defects in Bi-2212 can be interpreted without invoking a splay effect. Received 27 December 1999     

Extended -wave superconductivity. Flat nodes in the gap and the low-temperature asymptotic properties of high- superconductors

Remarkable anisotropic structures have been recently observed in the order parameter of the underdoped superconductor Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O . Such findings are strongly suggestive of deviations from a simple d _{x2 - y2} -wave picture of high- superconductivity, i.e. . In particular, flatter nodes in are observed along the directions in -space, than within this simple model for a d-wave gap. We argue that nonlinear corrections in the -dependence of near the nodes introduce new energy scales, which would lead to deviations in the predicted power-law asymptotic behaviour of several measurable quantities, at low or intermediate temperatures. We evaluate such deviations, either analytically or numerically, within the interlayer pair-tunneling model, and within yet another phenomenological model for a d-wave order parameter. We find that such deviations are expected to be of different sign in the two cases. Moreover, the doping dependence of the flatness of the gap near the nodes is also attributable to Fermi surface effects, in addition to possible screening effects modifying the in-plane pairing kernel, as recently proposed. Received 19 November 1999     

Transition to Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phases near the tricritical point: an analytical study

We explore analytically the nature of the transition to the Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluid phases in the vicinity of the tricritical point, where these phases begin to appear. We make use of an expansion of the free energy up to an overall sixth order, both in order parameter amplitude and in wavevector. We first explore the minimization of this free energy within a subspace, made of arbitrary superpositions of plane waves with wavevectors of different orientations but same modulus. We show that the standard second order FFLO phase transition is unstable and that a first order transition occurs at higher temperature. Within this subspace we prove that it is favorable to have a real order parameter and that, among these states, those with the smallest number of plane waves are preferred. This leads to an order parameter with a cos( ^. ) dependence, in agreement with preceding work. Finally we show that the order parameter at the transition is only very slightly modified by higher harmonics contributions when the constraint of working within the above subspace is released. Received 20 February 2002 / Received in final form 4 June 2002 Published online 13 August 2002     

Optical study of an untwinned single crystal: ab-plane anisotropy

We report on the ab-plane polarized reflectance of an untwinned single crystal over the frequency range from 80 to (10 meV-4 eV) at temperatures between 10 and 300 K. We find a clear anisotropy in the ab-plane optical conductivity above and below , which is very similar to that formerly published data of (M.A. Quijada et al., Z. Phys. B 94, 255 (1994)). We employ both the one-component and two-component analyses to the optical data, which suggest that the normal-state infrared anisotropy of originates not only from the mass anisotropy, but also from the scattering rate anisotropy. Our results provide evidence that the electronic structures within the plane are anisotropic. In the superconducting state, there is a definite ab-plane anisotropy to the far-infrared absorption. This anisotropy could be due either to anisotropy of the superconducting gap or to anisotropy of the mid-infrared component to the conductivity. We also observe the superconducting condensate is anisotropic: The value of the superconducting penetration depth in the a-direction is slightly smaller than that along the b-axis. Received 16 July 1998     

Nonlinear ac response of the vortex system in the cubic (K, Ba)BiO3 superconductor

We present ac susceptibility measurements performed on single crystals with different geometries: thick films, bars and hollow cylinders. We show that the dependence of the real () and imaginary () parts of the ac susceptibility is in very good agreement with Brandt's numerical calculations (Phys. Rev. B 58, 6523 (1998)) in the modified Bean critical state. Creep effects (at ) are investigated by studying the frequency dependence of the current density deduced from the temperature scans of the ac susceptibility over a large frequency range (). The relaxation rate is temperature independent and very similar to the one usually obtained in high cuprates. Received 17 March 1999     

Relation between vortex excitation and thermal conductivity in superconductors

Thermal conductivity κ _xx(T) under a field is investigated in d _{x2 - y2}-wave superconductors and isotropic s-wave superconductors by the linear response theory, using a microscopic wave function of the vortex lattice states. To study the origin of the different field dependence of κ_xx(T) between higher and lower temperature regions, we analyze the spatially-resolved thermal conductivity around a vortex at each temperature, which is related to the spectrum of the local density of states. We also discuss the electric conductivity in the same formulation for a comparison. Received 8 December 2001 and Received in final form 20 March 2002 Published online 6 June 2002     

Absence of dynamical crossover in the vortex creep near by the second peak effect in superconducting Hg-1201 single crystals

DC magnetic relaxation measurements in HgBa₂CuO₄ single crystals are analyzed nearby the fishtail line. It is found that in this case, it is not necessary to introduce any crossover from plastic creep to elastic creep models at the fishtail line. This type of fishtail effect comes only from a competition between a critical current at low temperature which increases versus field and the activation energy, which decreases versus field. According to the doping level of the compound, the fishtail effect can be observed or not, without any correlation with a vortex phase transition. Moreover, in this type of fishtail effect, there is no history effects as recently observed in YBaCu₂O₃ by the partial magnetization loop technique, suggesting that the transition from plastic to elastic flow is here hidden by the disorder of these materials. Received 11 January 2000     

Angular dependence of magnetoresistivity in c-oriented MgB thin film

The anisotropy of MgB₂ is still under debate: its value, strongly dependent on the kind of sample and on the measuring method, ranges between 1.2 and 13. In this work we present our results on MgB₂ c-oriented superconducting thin film. To evaluate the anisotropy, we followed two different approaches. Firstly, magnetoresistivity was measured as a function of temperature at selected magnetic fields applied both parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis; secondly, we measured magnetoresistivity at selected temperatures and magnetic fields, varying the angle θ between the magnetic field and the c-axis. The anisotropy estimated from the ratio between the upper critical fields parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis and the one obtained in the framework of the scaling approach within the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory are different but show a similar trend in the temperature dependence. Some differences in the upper critical field and in its anisotropy of our film with respect to single crystals are emphasized: some of these aspects can be accounted for by an analysis of upper critical fields within a two-band model in presence of disorder and/or crystallographic strain. Received 12 July 2002 / Received in final form 17 September 2002 Published online 29 November 2002     

Vector potential gauge for superconducting regular polygons

An approach to the Ginzburg-Landau problem of superconducting polygons is developed, based on the exact fulfillment of superconducting boundary conditions along the boundary of the sample. To this end an analytical gauge transformation for the vector potential A is found which gives A _n = 0 for the normal component along the boundary line of an arbitrary regular polygon. The use of the new gauge reduces the Ginzburg-Landau problem of superconducting polygons in external magnetic fields to an eigenvalue problem in a basis set of functions obeying Neumann boundary conditions. The advantages of this approach, especially for low magnetic fields, are illustrated and novel vortex patterns are obtained which can be probed experimentally. Received 28 February 2002 and Received in final form 12 April 2002 Published online 6 June 2002     

A microscopic model for the intrinsic Josephson tunneling in high- superconductors

A quantitative analysis of a microscopic model for the intrinsic Josephson effect in high-temperature superconductors based on interlayer tunneling is presented both within a mean-field BCS evaluation and a numerically essentially exact Quantum Monte-Carlo study. The pairing correlations in the CuO₂-planes are modelled by a 2D Hubbard model with attractive interaction, a model which accounts well for some of the observed features such as the short planar coherence length. The stack of Hubbard planes is arranged on a torus, which is threaded by a magnetic flux. The current perpendicular to the planes is calculated as a function of applied flux (i.e. the phase), and - after careful elimination of finite-size effects due to single-particle tunneling - found to display a sinusoidal field dependence in accordance with interlayer Josephson tunneling. Studies of the temperature dependence of the supercurrent reveal at best a mild elevation of the Josephson transition temperature compared to the planar Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature. These and other results on the dependence of the model parameters are compared with a standard BCS evaluation. Received: 24 February 1998 / Revised: 28 April 1998 / Accepted: 23 June 1998     

Evidence of critical fluctuations from the magnetoconductivity data in Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+x phase

The fluctuation-induced magnetoconductivity of the Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10+x phase is studied above zero-field critical temperature Tc(0) and for moderate magnetic fields. It is found that the Gaussian approximation for superconducting fluctuations underestimates the negative fluctuation magnetoconductance drastically in the Tc(0) < T < Tc(0) + 20 K temperature range. Taking into account the critical fluctuation contribution on the base of self-consistent Hartree approximation makes it possible to explain the data quantitatively in terms of the only Aslamazov-Larkin contribution for different magnetic fields and temperatures, consistently with the zero field data. Received 14 April 2000 and Received in final form 13 July 2000     

Symmetry breaking induced by a magnetic field in a quasi-two-dimensional d-wave superconductor

A model of quasi-two-dimensional d-wave superconductor, with strong nesting properties of the Fermi surface is considered. The orbital effect of a moderate magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the conducting planes is studied in the mean field approximation. It is shown that the field can induce a time reversal symmetry breaking SDW order coexisting with the superconducting order and can open a gap over the whole Fermi surface. The anomalies recently observed in the heat conductivity in might be ascribed to this effect. Received 7 May 1999 and Received in final form 13 August 1999     

Penetration depth measurement in high quality thin films

The parallel plate resonator method has been used for measuring high quality (YBCO) thin films, which have low temperature residual losses comparable to those previously obtained in single crystals. The surface resistance and the real part of the conductivity show a non-monotonic behaviour with a broad peak around 45 K. The penetration depth and the real part of the conductivity vary linearly at low temperatures. The lowest penetration depth linear fitting has a slope value of to up to 20 K which is lower than previous measurements on YBCO single crystals. An interpretation of this smaller slope in terms of the generally accepted d-wave order parameter symmetry presents difficulties. Received: 22 July 1997 / Revised: 11 March 1998 / Accepted: 23 June 1998     

Ground state and vortex states of bosons in an anisotropic trap: A variational approach

We propose a simple variational form of the wave function to describe the ground state and vortex states of a weakly interacting Bose gas in an anisotropic trap. The proposed wave function is valid for a wide range of the particle numbers in the trap. It also works well in the case of attractive interaction between the atoms. Further, it provides an easy and fast method to calculate the physical quantities of interest. The results compare very well with those obtained by purely numerical techniques. Using our wave function we have been able to verify, for the first time, the predicted behaviour of the aspect ratio. Received 7 December 1998 and Received in final form 4 February 1999     

Electrodynamics of the vortex lattice in untwinned YBaCuO by complex impedance measurements

We report complex impedance measurements in an untwinned YBaCuO crystal. Our broad frequency range covers both the quasi static response and the resistive response of the vortex lattice. It allow us to characterize the irreversibility line without the need of any frequency dependent pinning parameters. We confirm the validity of the two modes model of vortex dynamic, and extract both the surface critical current and the flux flow resistivity around the first order transition T_m. This latter is identified by the abrupt loss of pinning and by an unexpected step of (T) at T_m. Received 22 November 2002 / Received in final form 17 February 2003 Published online 20 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: alain.pautrat@ismra.fr RID="b" ID="b"UMR 6508 associée au CNRS     

Photoemission, inverse photoemission and superconducting correlations in Hubbard and t-J ladders: role of the anisotropy between legs and rungs

Several experiments in the context of ladder materials have recently shown that the study of simple models of anisotropic ladders (i.e. with different couplings along legs and rungs) is important for the understanding of these compounds. In this paper Exact Diagonalization studies of the one-band Hubbard and t-J models are reported for a variety of densities, couplings, and anisotropy ratios. The emphasis is given to the one-particle spectral function which presents a flat quasiparticle dispersion at the chemical potential in some region of parameter space. This is correlated with the existence of strong pairing fluctuations, which themselves are correlated with an enhancement of the bulk-extrapolated value for the two-hole binding energy as well as with the strength of the spin-gap in the hole-doped system. Part of the results for the spectral function are explained using a simple analytical picture valid when the hopping along the legs is small. In particular, this picture predicts an insulating state at quarter filling in agreement with the metal-insulator transition observed at this special filling for increasing rung couplings. The results are compared against previous literature, and in addition pair-pair correlations using extended operators are also here reported. Received: 22 April 1998 / Revised: 23 July 1998 / Accepted: 30 July 1998     

Smearing origin of zero-bias conductance peak in Ag-SiO-Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ planar tunnel junctions: influence of diffusive normal metal verified with the circuit theory

We propose a new approach of smearing origins of a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in high-T_c superconductor tunnel junctions through the analysis based on the circuit theory for a d-wave pairing symmetry. The circuit theory has been recently developed from conventional superconductors to unconventional superconductors. The ZBCP frequently appears in line shapes for this theory, in which the total resistance was constructed by taking account of the effects between a d-wave superconductor and a diffusive normal metal (DN) at a junction interface, including the midgap Andreev resonant states (MARS), the coherent Andreev reflection (CAR) and the proximity effect. Therefore, we have analyzed experimental spectra with the ZBCP of Ag-SiO-Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ (Bi-2212) planar tunnel junctions for the {110}-oriented direction by using a simplified formula of the circuit theory for d-wave superconductors. The fitting results reveal that the spectral features of the ZBCP are well explained by the circuit theory not only excluding the Dynes's broadening factor but also considering only the MARS and the DN resistance. Thus, the ZBCP behaviors are understood to be consistent with those of recent studies on the circuit theory extended to the systems containing d-wave superconductor tunnel junctions.     

Resonant coupling in the van der Waals interaction between an excited alkali atom and a dielectric surface: an experimental study via stepwise selective reflection spectroscopy

We present a detailed experimental study of the evaluation of the van der Waals (vW) atom-surface interaction for high-lying excited states of alkali-metal atoms (Cs and Rb), notably when they couple resonantly with a surface-polariton mode of the neighbouring dielectric surface. This report extends our initial observation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 5467 (1999)] of a vW repulsion between Cs(6D_3/2) and a sapphire surface. The experiment is based upon FM selective reflection spectroscopy, on a transition reaching a high-lying state from a resonance level, that has been thermally pumped by an initial one-photon step. Along with a strong vW repulsion fitted with a blue lineshift, -160±25 kHz μm³ for Cs(6D_3/2) in front of a sapphire surface (with a perpendicular c-axis), we demonstrate a weaker vW repulsion (-32±5 kHz μm³) for Cs(6D_3/2) in front of a YAG surface, as due to a similar resonant coupling at 12 μm between a virtual atomic emission (6D_3/2-7P_1/2) and the surface polariton modes. A resonant behaviour of Rb(6D_5/2) in front of a sapphire surface exists also because of analogous decay channels in the 12 μm range. Finally, one demonstrates that fused silica, nonresonant for a virtual transition in the 12 μm range and hence weakly attracting for Cs(6D_3/2), exhibits a resonant behaviour for Cs(9S_1/2) as due to its surface polariton resonance in the 8-9 μm range. The limiting factors that affect both the accuracy of the theoretical prediction, and that of the fitting method applied to the experimental data, are discussed in the conclusion. Received 16 January 2003 / Received in final form 25 March 2003 Published online 5 May 2003     

Microwave surface resistance of pristine and neutron-irradiated MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> samples in magnetic field

We report on the microwave surface resistance of two polycrystalline Mg¹¹ B₂ samples; one consists of pristine material, the other has been irradiated at very high neutron fluence. It has already been reported that in the strongly irradiated sample the two gaps merge into a single value. The mw surface resistance has been measured in the linear regime as a function of the temperature and the DC magnetic field, at increasing and decreasing fields. The results obtained in the strongly irradiated sample are quite well justified in the framework of a generalized Coffey and Clem model, in which we take into account the field distribution inside the sample due to the critical state. The results obtained in the pristine sample show several anomalies, especially at low temperatures, which cannot be justified in the framework of standard models for the fluxon dynamics. Only at temperatures near T_c and for magnetic fields greater than 0.5H_c2(T) the experimental data can quantitatively be accounted for by the Coffey and Clem model, provided that the upper-critical-field anisotropy is taken into due account.