English

Multiple nodeless superconducting gaps in optimally-doped SrTi$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$O$_{3}$

Superconductivity 2015-06-22 v1 Materials Science Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

We present the first study of thermal conductivity in superconducting SrTi1x_{1-x}Nbx_{x}O3_{3}, sufficiently doped to be near its maximum critical temperature. The bulk critical temperature, determined by the jump in specific heat, occurs at a significantly lower temperature than the resistive Tc_{c}. Thermal conductivity, dominated by the electron contribution, deviates from its normal-state magnitude at bulk Tc_{c}, following a Bardeen-Rickayzen-Tewordt (BRT) behavior, expected for thermal transport by Bogoliubov excitations. Absence of a T-linear term at very low temperatures rules out the presence of nodal quasi-particles. On the other hand, the field dependence of thermal conductivity points to the existence of at least two distinct superconducting gaps. We conclude that optimally-doped strontium titanate is a multigap nodeless superconductor.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1409.2423,
  title  = {Multiple nodeless superconducting gaps in optimally-doped SrTi$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$O$_{3}$},
  author = {Xiao Lin and Adrien Gourgout and German Bridoux and Francois Jomard and Alexandre Pourret and Benoit Fauque and Dai Aoki and Kamran Behnia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.2423},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

6 pages including a supplement