Topological d-wave superconductor

The hypothetical topologically nontrivial superconducting state of a two-dimensional electron system is discussed in connection with the problem of high-temperature superconductivity of cuprates. Direct numerical solution of the self-consistency equation exhibits two nearly degenerate order parameters which can be formally referred to $d_{x^2 - y^2 }$ and d _xy orbital symmetry. Spontaneous breaking of the time-reversal symmetry can mix these states and form fully gapped chiral d + id superconducting state.     

Conductance of d-wave superconductor/normal metal/d-wave superconductor junctions

We develop a theory of the conductance of superconductor/normal metal/superconductor junctions in the case where the superconducting order parameter has d-wave symmetry. At low temperature the conductance is proportional to the square root of the inelastic electron relaxation time in the bulk of the superconductor. As a result it turns out to be much larger than the conductance of the normal part of the junction.     

Zeeman effects on Josephson current in d-wave superconductor/d-wave superconductor junctions

This paper solves a self-consistent equation for the d-wave superconducting gap and the effective exchange field in the mean-field approximation, and studies the Zeeman effects on the d-wave superconducting gap and thermodynamic potential. The Josephson currents in the d-wave superconductor(S)/insulating layer(I)/d-wave S junctions are calculated as a function of the temperature, exchange field, and insulating barrier strength under a Zeeman magnetic field on the two d-wave Ss. It is found that the Josephson critical currents in d-wave S/d-wave S junction to a great extent depend on the relative orientation of the effective exchange field of the two S electrodes, and the crystal orientation of the d-wave S. The exchange field under certain conditions can enhance the Josephson critical current in a d-wave S/I/d-wave S junction.     

磁性d波超导/铁磁/磁性d波超导结中的约瑟夫森效应

通过求解磁性d波超导中的能隙和磁交换能的自洽方程, 研究磁性d波超导/铁磁/磁性d波超导结中的约瑟夫森电流. 计算结果表明: 1)临界电流随中间的铁磁层厚度呈现出两种不同周期的振荡混合, 通过增强铁磁层中的磁交换能q₀和铁磁/磁性d波超导界面处的势垒强度z₀, 短周期分量可从长周期中分离出来, 反之, 通过降低q₀和z₀, 长周期分量可从短周期中分离出来; 2)在两边磁性d波超导的磁化方向取平行时, 在取一些特定的铁磁层厚度下, 磁性d波超导中的磁交换能可增强系统的临界电流. 关键词： 磁性d波超导体 铁磁体 约瑟夫森电流     

Zeeman effects on d-wave superconductor and tunneling spectrum in normal-metal/d-wave superconductor tunnel junction

We study the Zeeman effect on the d-wave superconductor and tunneling spectrum in normal-metal(N)/d-wave superconductor(S) junction by applying a Zeeman magnetic field to the S. It is shown that: (1) the Zeeman magnetic field can lead to the S gap decreasing, and with the increase in Zeeman energy, the superconducting state is changed to the normal state, exhibiting a first-order phase transition; (2) the Zeeman energy difference between the two splitting peaks in the conductance spectrum is equal to2h0 (h0 is the Zeeman energy); (3) both the barrier strength of interface scattering and the temperature can lower the magnitudes of splitting peaks, of which the barrier strength can lead to the splitting peaks becoming sharp and the temperature can smear out the peaks,however, neither of them can influence the Zeeman effect.     

Optical properties of inhomogeneous media

A theory is presented for the optical properties of inhomogeneous media consisting of small particles in a continuous dielectric host. In contrast to the commonly used Maxwell-Garnett approach, our theory includes the dipole-dipole coupling between the randomly distributed particles. The pronounced disorder-induced broadening explains the large width of typical experimental absorption lines and thus resolved the long-standing discrepancy between measured spectra and the predictions of the Maxwell-Garnett model.     

Anomalous proximity effect in an inhomogeneous disordered superconductor

By combining very low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy on a TiN film we have observed a nonuniform state comprising of superconducting (S) and normal (N) areas. The local density of states displays a spatial dependence between S and N different from the usual proximity effect. We conclude that mesoscopic fluctuations might play a major role in accordance with recent theories describing superconductor-normal-metal quantum transition.     

Optical properties of inhomogeneous composite materials

Using the condition that the forward scattering amplitude S(0) = 0, we extend the treatment of composite media to optical frequencies and to a model system of metal island spheres suspended in a dielectric. Our results are in good agreement with experimental data from cermets of Au in SiO₂ for volume fractions from 10 to 80% Au in SiO₂.     

Relaxation of hot quasiparticles in a d-wave superconductor

Motivated by recent pump-probe experiments we consider the processes by which "hot" quasiparticles produced near the antinodes of a d-wave superconductor can relax. We show that in a large region of momentum space processes which break Cooper pairs are forbidden by energy and momentum conservation. Equilibration then occurs by scattering with thermal quasiparticles: Umklapp scattering is exponentially suppressed at low temperatures, but small-angle scattering leads to power-law behavior. By solving the Boltzmann equation analytically we make detailed predictions for the temperature and intensity dependence of these processes, which we compare with experiment.     

Spin-switch effect in a graphene d-wave superconductor spin-valve

In this paper, spin-switch effect under the influence of anisotropic pairing symmetry is investigated. It is shown that the non-local conductance is sensitive to the exchange splitting, the incident energy, and the orientation of the superconducting gap. With the increase of the exchange splitting from zero to Fermi energy, the crossed Andreev reflection conductance for parallel configuration of magnetization and the elastic co-tunneling conductance for antiparallel configuration of magnetization are suppressed to a vanishing value. When the exchange splitting equates to Fermi energy, for values of the orientation of d-wave superconducting gap in the k-space very close to π / 4, magnitude of the spin-switch effect is suppressed completely. Moreover, in contrast to the single graphene-based ferromagnet/superconductor junction case, a π / 2 periodic oscillatory behavior about the barrier is observed directly in the present spin valve. The physical origination for those phenomena has also been analyzed.     

Spin resonance in the d-wave superconductor CeCoIn5

Neutron scattering is used to probe antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations in the d-wave heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 (T_(c)=2.3 K). Superconductivity develops from a state with slow (variant Planck's over 2piGamma=0.3+/-0.15 meV) commensurate [Q_(0)=(1/2,1/2,1/2)] antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and nearly isotropic spin correlations. The characteristic wave vector in CeCoIn5 is the same as CeIn3 but differs from the incommensurate wave vector measured in antiferromagnetically ordered CeRhIn5. A sharp spin resonance (variant Planck's over 2piGamma<0.07 meV) at variant Planck's over 2piomega=0.60+/-0.03 meV develops in the superconducting state removing spectral weight from low-energy transfers. The presence of a resonance peak is indicative of strong coupling between f-electron magnetism and superconductivity and consistent with a d-wave gap order parameter satisfying Delta(q+Q0)=-Delta(q).     

Disorder driven superconductor-insulator transition in inhomogenous d-wave superconductor

We study the effect of disorder on the superconductor-insulator transition in an inhomogeneous d-wave superconductor using the kernel polynomial method. As the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations of the two-dimensional square lattice are solved self-consistently for the cases with more than 100000 unit cells, it is possible to observe the spatial fluctuations of the superconducting order parameters at the nanoscale. We find that strong spatial fluctuation of the superconducting order parameters can be introduced by disorder, and some superconducting specific order parameters are even enhanced. Moreover, we find that some isolated superconducting "islands" can survive the strong disorder, giving a boson insulator with some localized Cooper pairs. Our numerical calculations predict the existence of two sequential transitions with the increasing disorder strength: a d-wave to s-wave superconductor transition, and then an s-wave superconductor to insulator transition. The possibility of the appearance of a metallic phase between the superconducting and insulating phases is excluded by performing the lattice-size scaling of the generalized inverse participation ratio. In addition, we also discuss the effect of disorder on the optical conductivity of the d-wave superconductors.     

Spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor junctions

Within a scattering framework, a theoretical study is presented for the spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor junctions. We find that the subgap conductance behavior is qualitatively different from a nonmagnetic junction, and can also be significantly different from those of a ferromagnet/s-wave junction. For a ballistic ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor junction, under appropriate conditions, a zero-bias conductance minimum could be achieved. In addition, a conductance maximum at finite bias could be evolved by interfacial scattering. For a normal-metal/ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor junction, conductance resonances are predicted.     

Impurity in a d-wave superconductor: Kondo effect and STM spectra

We present a theory for recent STM studies of Zn impurities in the superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta, using insights from NMR experiments which show that there is a net S = 1/2 moment on the Cu ions near the Zn. We argue that the Kondo spin dynamics of this moment is the origin of the low bias peak in the differential conductance, rather than a resonance in a purely potential scattering model. The spatial and energy dependence of the STM spectra of our model can also fit the experiments.     

Force between a magnetic tip and an inhomogeneous superconductor at zero field

The force exerted by a semi-infinite inhomogeneous superconductor with a planar interface to vacuum on a magnetic tip is studied theoretically in the absence of external magnetic fields. It is shown that the force has a contribution from inhomogeneities due to material defects with unique characteristics. Defects are taken into account in the London limit by allowing the mass parameter to vary spatially. The contribution from defects to the force is calculated analytically to first order in the deviation of the mass parameter from its constant value for the homogeneous superconductor, assuming that the tip is a point dipole perpendicular to the interface, and that it does not spontaneously create vortex matter. Random point defects and linear localized defects are considered phenomenologically. For each defect type the force dependence on the dipole position coordinates is obtained, and the force magnitudes are estimated numerically. The predictions for the dependence of the linear defect force on the dipole lateral position are found to agree qualitatively with experiment.     

Josephson effect in SIFS with an inhomogeneous superconductor/ferromagnet interface

The Josephson effect in a superconductor-insulator-ferromagnet-superconductor structure with a stepwise change in the transparency of the superconductor/ferromagnet interface has been investigated within the formalism of the Usadel equations. It is shown that, at a certain thickness of the ferromagnet layer, this feature leads to the formation of a point contact with an anomalous dependence of the critical current on the external magnetic field.