Novel structures and properties of gold nanowires

The structures of free-standing gold nanowires are studied by using molecular-dynamics-based genetic algorithm simulations. Helical and multiwalled cylindrical structures are found for the thinner nanowires, while bulk-like fcc structures eventually form in the thicker nanowires up to 3 nm in diameter. This noncrystalline-crystalline transition starts from the core region of nanowires. The vibrational, electronic, and transport properties of nanowires are investigated based on the optimal structures. Bulklike behaviors are found for the vibrational and electronic properties of the nanowires with fcc crystalline structure. The conductance of nanowires generally increases with wire diameter and depends on the wire structure.     

Anderson localization and superconducting transition temperature in two-dimensional systems

Effects of the Anderson localization on superconducting transition temperature T_c are examined by calculating a two-electron propagator K rigorously up to 0[(?_Fτ₀)^?1ln(Tτ₀)], where τ₀ is the electron life time due to impurity scattering and ?_F the Fermi energy. The results show that in K the pair-breaking terms cancel out among themselves exactly and the remaining terms which contribute to the correction to the density of states and to the renormalization of electron-electron interaction by impurity scattering lead to the changes in T_c of 0[{ln(Tτ₀)}²] and of 0[{ln(Tτ₀)}³], respectively.     

Oscillations of superconducting transition temperature in strong ferromagnet-superconductor bilayers

The superconducting transition temperature T _c of a “clean ferromagnet-dirty superconductor” bilayer is calculated using boundary conditions derived for the quasiclassical Green’s function. This combination corresponds to the majority of experiments, in which Fe, Ni, Co, or Gd are used as a material for the ferromagnetic layer. It is shown that T _c oscillates upon changing thickness of the ferromagnetic layer, in accordance with the experimental observations.     

Oscillations of the superconducting transition temperature in aluminum films

Oscillations of the superconducting transition temperature of thin Al-films have been observed during deposition of siliconmonoxide SiO. Friedel oscillations as well as the quantum size effect may account for the observations.     

Ab initio calculation of the superconducting transition temperature

The superconducting transition temperature is calculated for a series of representative metals from a selfconsistent LMTO-bandstructure calculation. We carefully avoid any uncontrolled approximations apart from the use of a local exchange-correlation potential and the rigid-ion approximation for the electron-phonon interaction, Our results for V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, Pd, Pt, Pb clearly indicate that these popular approximations are incapable of reproducing the observed transition temperatures.     

Calculated Nb superconducting transition temperature under hydrostatic pressure

Abstract

A full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method (FP-LMTO) based linear-response approach is used to calculate the electron-phonon coupling in Nb under hydrostatic pressure. The superconducting transition temperature T_c is calculated using the Eliashberg equation. The calculated T_c agrees nicely with the experimental result at ambient pressure, but the agreement is only fair at high pressures. The T_c measured anomaly at 60–70GPa is understood in terms of the 2.5 order Lifshitz transition and its origin is traced back to the qualitative changes in the Fermi surface topology.     

On the superconducting transition temperature for metallic nanocrystals

A new approach is proposed for calculating the Debye temperature of a nanocrystal in the form of an n-dimensional rectangular parallelepiped with an arbitrary microstructure and the number of atoms N ranging from 2ⁿ to infinity. The geometric shape of the system is determined by the lateral-to-basal edge ratio of the parallelepiped. The size dependences of the Debye and melting temperatures for a number of materials are calculated using the derived relationship. The theoretical curves thus obtained agree well with the experimental data. The calculated dependences of the superconducting transition temperature T _c on the size d of aluminum, indium, and lead nanocrystals are also in reasonable agreement with the experimental estimates of T _c (d). It is demonstrated that, as the nanocrystal size d decreases, the greater the deviation of the nanocrystal shape from an equilibrium shape (in our case, a cube), the higher the temperature of the superconducting transition T _c (d). The superconducting transition temperature is calculated as a function of the thickness (diameter) of a plate (rod) with an arbitrary length. It is found that a decrease in the thickness (diameter) of the plate (rod) leads to an increase in the temperature T _c (z): the looser the microstructure of the metallic nanocrystal, the higher the temperature T _c (z).     

Correlation between superconducting transition temperature and the cauchy discrepancy in body-centered-cubic transition metals

For body-centered-cubic transition metals, an empirical relationship exists between the superconducting transition temperature and the Cauchy discrepancy. This correlation may arise from many-atom effects.     

Doping dependence of the superconducting transition temperature in high-Tc systems

Using a self consistent diagrammatic theory of the one band Hubbard model, a suppression of the superfluid density due to spin fluctuation induced scattering rates is found. This is most pronounced for underdoped systems and enforces fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter and a suppression of the superconducting mean field transition temperature for low doping. Consequently, an optimal doping concentration around χ_opt: = 0:14 occurs within the spin fluctuation mechanism.     

Angular dependence of the superconducting transition temperature in ferromagnet-superconductor-ferromagnet trilayers

The superconducting transition temperature T(c) of a ferromagnet (F)-superconductor (S)-ferromagnet trilayer depends on the mutual orientation of the magnetic moments of the F layers. This effect has been previously observed in F/S/F systems as a T(c) difference between parallel and antiparallel configurations of the F layers. Here we report measurements of T(c) in CuNi/Nb/CuNi trilayers as a function of the angle between the magnetic moments of the CuNi ferromagnets. The observed angular dependence of T(c) is in qualitative agreement with a F/S proximity theory that accounts for the odd triplet component of the condensate predicted to arise for noncollinear orientation of the magnetic moments of the F layers.     

Causes for the variable superconducting transition temperature in uranium metal

The variable superconducting transition temperature of uranium metal appears to depend upon the variability of a low-temperature martensitic transformation. Local structural fluctuations and phase instabilities are suggested as resulting when the transformation is incomplete. The thermodynamic stability of a two-phase modulated structure involving domain formation is discussed along with possible consequences of a domain configuration. Factors affecting T_c are used to explain the anamalous thermal property behavior of α-phase uranium.     

Increased superconducting transition temperature of a niobium thin film proximity coupled to gold nanoparticles using linking organic molecules

The superconducting critical temperature, T(C), of thin Nb films is significantly modified when gold nanoparticles (NPs) are chemically linked to the Nb film, with a consistent enhancement when using 3 nm long disilane linker molecules. The T(C) increases by up to 10% for certain linker length and NP size. No change is observed when the nanoparticles are physisorbed with nonlinking molecules. Electron tunneling spectra acquired on the linked NPs below T(C) typically exhibit zero-bias peaks. We attribute these results to a pairing mechanism coupling electrons in the Nb and the NPs, mediated by the organic linkers.     

Enhancement of superconducting critical temperature due to metal-semiconductor transition

It is pointed out that there exists a qualitative agreement between the occurrence of high-temperature superconductivity in oxide systems (perovskite and layered perovskite structures) and the author's earlier theoretical predictions of superconductivity in the model of metal-insulator transition (partly contained in the book: High-temperature superconductivity). Here a brief account of the published results is given and attention is paid to some properties of such superconductors.     

The superconducting transition temperature for very large electron-phonon coupling

A rigorous derivation of the range of validity of the asymptotic relation $\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{B}}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{?0.1827[λ<ω}{}^2\text{>]}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ is presented.     

A least upper bound on the superconducting transition temperature

It is rigorously shown that the superconducting transition temperature of any material for which the Eliashberg theory is valid must satisfy k_BT_c ? 0.2309 A, where A is the area under its electron-phonon spectral function α²F(ω). This relation is a least upper bound, not just an upper bound, in the sense that there is an optimal situation in which the equality holds. This occurs when the Coulomb pseudopotential parameter $\text{μ}{}^1$ is zero and the spectral function is the Einstein spectrum Aδ(ω ? 1.750 A). These results are generalized in an approximate, but sufficiently accurate, way to the case $\text{μ}{}^1\text{≠ 0}$ to obtain the more useful least upper bound $\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>B</mtext>}}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>c</mtext>}}\text{? c(μ}{}^1\text{) A}$ and the corresponding optimal spectrum $\text{Aδ[ω ? d(μ}{}^1\text{)A]}$. Numerical results for the functions $\text{c(μ}{}^1\text{)}$ and d(μ¹) are presented for $\text{0 ? μ}{}^1\text{? 0.20}$. It is shown that the T_c's of many materials (including Nb₃Sn), for which experimental values of A and $\text{μ}{}^1$ are available, do not lie very far below the upper bound.     

Influence of correlated spins on the superconducting transition temperature

Using a variational procedure, the depression of the superconducting transition temperature by a system of correlated moving spins is calculated. In particular, corrections to the Abrikosov-Gorkov theory in the neighbourhood of a magnetic phase transition are examined. Characteristic differences in the concentration dependence of the superconducting transition temperature are found in the cases of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spin correlations.     

On some recent results concerning the superconducting transition temperature

The Eliashberg gap equations relate the transition temperature T_c of an isotropic superconductor to its electron-phonon spectral function α²F(ω) and Coulomb pseudopotential parameter $\text{μ}{}^1$. Recently the Eliashberg theory has been used to derive some supposedly rigorous results bearing on the problem of attaining higher superconducting transition temperatures: Bergmann and Rainer derived an expression for the functional derivative $\text{δT}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{δα}{}^2\text{F(ω)}$; Allen and Dynes showed that in the asymptotic limit of very large $\text{λ(λ?10)k}{}_{\mathrm{B}}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{=f(μ}{}^1\text{)(λ〈ω}{}^2\text{〉)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ and Leavens proved that for any isotropic superconductor k_BT_c ?0.2309A, where A is the area under its electron-phonon spectral function. In this letter we show that the result of Allen and Dynes is not compatible with the other results and is, in fact, incorrect.