English

Energy gaps in high-$T_c$ superconductors: BCS after all?

Superconductivity 2009-09-01 v1

Abstract

A major impediment to solving the problem of high-TcT_c superconductivity is the ongoing confusion about the magnitude, structure and doping dependence of the superconducting gap, Δ0\Delta_0, and of the mysterious pseudogap found in underdoped samples\cite{TallonLoram}. The pseudogap opens around the (π\pi,0) antinodes below a temperature TT^* leaving Fermi arcs across the remnant Fermi surface\cite{Kanigel} on which the superconducting gap forms at TcT_c. One thing that seems agreed is that the ratio 2Δ0/kBTc2\Delta_0/k_BT_c well exceeds the BCS value and grows with underdoping\cite{Miyakawa1,Miyakawa2}, suggesting unconventional, non-BCS superconductivity. Here we re-examine data from many spectroscopies, especially Raman B1gB_{1g} and B2gB_{2g} scattering\cite{Sacuto,Guyard}, and reconcile them all within a two-gap scenario showing that the points of disagreement are an artefact of spectral-weight loss arising from the pseudogap. Crucially, we find that Δ0(p)\Delta_0(p), or more generally the order parameter, now scales with the mean-field TcT_c value, adopting the weak-coupling BCS ratio across the entire phase diagram.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0908.4430,
  title  = {Energy gaps in high-$T_c$ superconductors: BCS after all?},
  author = {J. L. Tallon and J. G. Storey},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0908.4430},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures, a key reference is the arXiv paper arXiv:0908.4428