We review and analyze magnetization and specific heat investigations on type-II superconductors which uncover remarkable evidence for the magnetic field induced fnite size effect and the associated 3D to 1D crossover which enhances thermal fluctuations.
Based on a simple model of a layered superconductor with strong attractive interaction, we find that the separation of the pair-condensation temperature from the pair-formation temperature becomes more remarkable as the interlayer hopping gets smaller. We propose from this result the BCS-BEC crossover induced by the change in dimensionality, for instance, due to insertion of additional insulating layers or application of uniaxial pressure. The emergence of a pseudogap in the electronic density of states, which supports the idea of the dimensionality-induced BCS-BEC crossover, is also verified.
The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) condensation and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) are the two extreme limits of the ground state of the paired fermion systems. We report crossover behavior from the BCS condensation to the BEC realized in the two-dimensional (2D) superconductor, electron doped layered material ZrNCl. The phase diagram, established by simultaneous experiments of resistivity and tunneling spectra under the ionic gating, demonstrates the pseudogap phase at the low doping regime. In the low carrier density limit, $T_{\rm BKT}$ (Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition tem…
We report a nontrivial transition in the core structure of vortices in two-band superconductors as a function of interband impurity scattering. We demonstrate that, in addition to singular zeros of the order parameter, the vortices there can acquire a circular nodal line around the singular point in one of the superconducting components. It results in the formation of the peculiar "moat"-like profile in one of the superconducting gaps. The moat-core vortices occur generically in the vicinity of the impurity-induced crossover between $s_{\pm}$ and $s_{++}$ states.
Ultranarrow superconductors are in the strong quantum confinement regime with formation of multiple coherent condensates associated with the many subbands of the electronic structure. Here we analyze the multiband BCS-BEC crossover induced by the chemical potential tuned close to a subband bottom, in correspondence of a superconducting shape resonance. The evolution of the condensate fraction and of the pair correlation length in the ground state as functions of the chemical potential demonstrates the tunability of the BCS-BEC crossover for the condensate component of the selected subband. The…
Hidden Crossover Phenomena in Strongly Pauli Limited Multiband Superconductors ---Application to CeCu$_2$Si$_2$
基于最近对重费米子材料CeCu $_2$ Si $_2$和UBe $_{13}$的实验研究,我们建立了一个框架来描述具有强泡利顺磁效应(PPE)的多带超导体的一般性质.与单带情况相比,即使在强PPE情况下,上临界场$H_{\rm c2}$仍能保持二级跃迁。预期的一阶跃迁隐藏在$H_{\rm c2}$内部,并由于多频带的相互作用而成为交叉。本文基于微观Eilenberger理论的完全自洽解,解释了最近在CeCu $_2$ Si $_2$上的STM实验中观察到的与交叉和“空”涡核态有关的几种神秘异常现象。
In this review article we consider theoretically and give experimental support to the models of the Fermi-Bose mixtures and the BCS-BEC crossover compared with the strong-coupling approach, which can serve as the cornerstones on the way from high-temperature to room-temperature superconductivity in pressurized metallic hydrides. We discuss some key theoretical ideas and mechanisms proposed for unconventional superconductors (cuprates, pnictides, chalcogenides, bismuthates, diborides, heavy-fermions, organics, bilayer graphene, twisted graphene, oxide hetero-structures), superfluids and balance…
Magnetic-field tuned superconductor to insulator transition was observed in a novel hybrid system of granular superconducting indium, deposited on indium oxide thin film, which exhibits global superconductivity at low magnetic fields. We have used annealing to tune the coupling to lie just at the borderline where superconductivity in the underlying InOx is suppressed, which is also close to the metal-insulator transition of the InOx. The hybrid system exhibits a "giant" magnetoresistance above the H-SIT, with critical behavior that manifests the duality between Cooper pairs and vortices.
The recently discovered kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 exhibit tantalizing high-pressure phase diagrams, in which a new dome-like superconducting phase emerges under moderate pressure. However, its origin is as yet unknown. Here, we carried out the high-pressure electrical measurements up to 150 GPa, together with the high-pressure X-ray diffraction measurements and first-principles calculations on CsV3Sb5. We find the new superconducting phase to be rather robust and inherently linked to the interlayer Sb2-Sb2 interactions. The formation of Sb2-Sb2 bonds at high pressure tunes the system from …
The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) condensation and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) are the two limiting ground states of paired Fermion systems, and the crossover between these two limits has been a source of excitement for both fields of high temperature superconductivity and cold atom superfluidity. For superconductors, ultra-low doping systems like graphene and LixZrNCl successfully approached the crossover starting from the BCS-side. These superconductors offer new opportunities to clarify the nature of charged-particles transport towards the BEC regime. Here we report the study of vort…
In this paper we present predictions for thermodynamic and transport properties of a BCS Bose-Einstein crossover theory, below Tc, which theory satisfies the reasonable constraints that it yield (i) the Leggett ground state and (ii) BCS theory at weak coupling and all temperatures. The nature of the strong coupling limit is inferred, along with the behavior of the Knight shift, superfluid density, and specific heat. Comparisons with existing data on short coherence length superconductors, such as organic and high Tc systems, are presented, which provide some support for the present picture.
Disorder can have remarkably disparate consequences in superconductors, driving superconductor-insulator transitions in ultrathin films by localizing electron pairs and boosting the supercurrent carrying capacity of thick films by localizing vortices (magnetic flux lines). Though the electronic 3D-to-2D crossover at material thicknesses $d \sim ξ$ (coherence length) is well studied, a similarly consequential magnetic crossover at $d \sim L_c$ (pinning length) that should drastically alter material properties remains largely underexamined. According to collective pinning theory, vortex segments…
In paired Fermi systems, strong many-body effects exhibit in the crossover regime between the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limits. The concept of the BCS-BEC crossover, which is studied intensively in the research field of cold atoms, has been extended to condensed matters. Here, by analyzing the typical superconductors within the BCS-BEC phase diagram, we find that FeSe-based superconductors are prone to shift their positions in the BCS-BEC crossover regime by charge doping or substrate substitution, since their Fermi energies and the superconductin…
Long-range order in quasi-one-dimensional (q1D) arrays of superconducting nanowires is established via a dimensional crossover from a fluctuating 1D regime to a phase-coherent 3D ground state. If a homogeneous crystalline superconductor exhibits sufficiently high uniaxial anisotropy, a similar 1D$\rightarrow$3D crossover has been predicted to occur, provided that single-particle hopping transverse to the 1D axis is absent in the normal state. Here we present magnetic penetration depth and electrical transport data in single crystals of q1D Tl$_2$Mo$_6$Se$_6$, which reveal a 1D$\rightarrow$3D s…
To decipher the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity, it is important to know how the superconducting pairing emerges from the unusual normal states of cuprate superconductors, including pseudogap, anomalous Fermi liquid and strange metal (SM). A long-standing issue under debate is how the superconducting pairing is formed and condensed in the SM phase because the superconducting transition temperature is the highest in this phase. Here, we report the first experimental observation of a pressure-induced crossover from two- to three-dimensional superconducting states in the optimally…
Superconductivity mostly appears in high carrier density systems and sometimes exhibits common phase diagrams in which the critical temperature Tc continuously develops with carrier density. Superconductivity enhanced in lightly doped regime has seldom been reported, although it is an ideal direction towards the crossover between Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) limits, where the behavior of Cooper pairs changes dramatically. Here we report transport properties and superconducting gaps in single-crystalline lithium-intercalated layered nitrides (LixHfNCl and L…
In type-II superconductors exposed to magnetic fields between upper and lower critical values, $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, penetrating magnetic flux forms a lattice of vortices whose motion can induce dissipation. Consequently, the magnetization $M$ of superconductors is typically progressively weakened with increasing magnetic field $B \propto n_v$ (for vortex density $n_v$). However, some materials exhibit a non-monotonic $M(B)$, presenting a maximum in $M$ at what is known as the second magnetization peak. This phenomenon appears in most classes of superconductors, including low $T_c$ materials,…
The direct transition from an insulator to a superconductor (SC) in Fermi systems is a problem of long-standing interest, which necessarily goes beyond the standard BCS paradigm of superconductivity as a Fermi surface instability. We introduce here a simple, translationally-invariant lattice fermion model that undergoes a SC-insulator transition (SIT) and elucidate its properties using analytical methods and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We show that there is a fermionic band insulator to bosonic insulator crossover in the insulating phase and a BCS-to-BEC crossover in the SC. The SIT is al…
The crossover from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductivity to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) is difficult to realize in quantum materials because, unlike in ultracold atoms, one cannot tune the pairing interaction. We realize the BCS-BEC crossover in a nearly compensated semimetal Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$ by tuning the Fermi energy, $ε_F$, via chemical doping, which permits us to systematically change $Δ/ ε_F$ from 0.16 to 0.5 were $Δ$ is the superconducting (SC) gap. We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to measure the Fermi energy, the SC gap and characteristic chang…
Comment on ``BCS to Bose-Einstein crossover phase diagram at zero temperature for a d_{x^2-y^2} order parameter superconductor: Dependence on the tight-binding structure''
We study LiFeP, LiFeAs and NaFeAs in their paramagnetic metallic phase including dynamical electronic correlations within a density functional theory + slave-spin mean-field framework. The three compounds are found to lie next to the crossover between a normal and a Hund's metal, where a region of enhanced electronic compressibility that may boost superconductivity is systematically present in this type of systems. We find that LiFeP lies in the normal metallic regime, LiFeAs at the crossover, and NaFeAs is in the Hund's metal regime, which possibly explains the different experimental trends f…
Spin-singlet Cooper pairs consisting of two electrons with opposite spins cannot directly penetrate from a superconductor to a half-metal (fully spin polarized ferromagnets) which blocks the superconducting proximity effect between these materials. In this paper we demonstrate that, nevertheless, two half-metallic layers electrically coupled to the superconducting film substantially affect its critical temperature and produce the spin valve effect. Within the tight-binding model for the atomically thin multilayered spin valves we show that depending on the details of the electron energy spectr…
FeSe is argued as a superconductor in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Bose-Einstein-condensation crossover regime where the superconducting-gap size and the superconducting transition temperature Tc are comparable to the Fermi energy. In this regime, vortex bound states should be well quantized and the preformed pairs above Tc may yield a pseudogap in the quasiparticle-excitation spectrum. We performed spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy to search for these features. We found Friedel-like oscillations near the vortex, which manifest the quantized levels, whereas the pseudogap was…
Destruction of superconductivity in disordered materials : a dimensional crossover
通过改变样品厚度$d$,研究了不同Nb组分$x$的非晶Nb $_{x}$ Si $_{1-x}$二维薄膜中无序诱导的超导体-绝缘体转变.我们表明,临界厚度$d_c$,从绝缘的超导制度,随着减少$x$强烈增加,从而达到超过100欧姆的值。相应的相图中的$(d, x)$平面推断和相关的三维情况。二维的超导体到绝缘体的转变与三维的超导体到金属的转变良好连接。
Observation of Temperature-Induced Crossover to an Orbital-Selective Mott Phase in A$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ (A=K, Rb) Superconductors
在本工作中,我们用角分辨光电子能谱研究了A $_{x}$ Fe $_{2-y}$ Se $_2$(A=K,Rb)超导体。在低温状态下,我们观察到的费米能级附近的带的轨道相关的重正化,其中的dxy带重重正化相比,dxz/dyz带。当温度升高到150 K以上时,系统演化为dxy带具有减小的光谱权重而dxz/dyz带保持金属性的状态。结合理论计算,我们的观察结果可以一致地理解为温度诱导的交叉从金属态在低温下的轨道选择性莫特相(OSMP)在高温下。此外,事实上,超导态的A $_{x}$ Fe $_{2-y}$ Se $_2$是接近这样的OSMP的边界约束系统具有足够强的现场库仑相互作用和Hund的耦合,并因此突出了非平凡的作用,在这个家庭的铁超导体中的电子相关。
A topological insulator (TI) interfaced with an s-wave superconductor has been predicted to host an unusual form of superconductivity known as topological superconductivity (TSC). Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has been the primary approach in the scalable synthesis of the TI/superconductor heterostructures. Although the growth of epitaxial TI films on s-wave superconductors has been achieved, it remains an outstanding challenge for synthesizing atomically thin TI/superconductor heterostructures, which are critical for engineering the TSC phase. Here, we used MBE to grow Bi2Se3 films with the co…
Linear nonsaturating magnetoresistance (LMR) represents a class of anomalous resistivity response to external magnetic field that has been observed in a variety of materials including but not limited to topological semi-metals, high-Tc superconductors and materials with charge/spin density wave (CDW/SDW) orders. Here we report the observation of LMR in layered kagome superconductor and CDW material CsV3Sb5 thin flakes, as well as the dimensional crossover and temperature (T) crossover of such LMR. Specifically, in ultrathin CsV3Sb5 crystals, the magnetoresistance (MR) exhibits a crossover from…
Superconductivity in strongly correlated systems is a remarkable phenomenon that attracts a huge interest. The study of this problem is relevant for materials as the high $T_c$ oxides, pnictides and heavy fermions. These systems also have in common the existence of electrons of several orbitals that coexist at a common Fermi-surface. In this paper we study the effect of pressure, chemical or applied on multi-band superconductivity. Pressure varies the atomic distances and consequently the overlap of the wave-functions in the crystal. This rearranges the electronic structure that we model inclu…
An important experimental signature of localization is the low-frequency AC conductivity, which typically vanishes as $ω^ϕ$. The exponent $ϕ= 2$ for Anderson insulators, whereas for many body localized insulators $ϕ$ is a continuously varying exponent $1 \le ϕ\le 2$. In this work, we study the low-frequency AC conductivity of localized superconductors, in which disorder is strong enough to localize all quasiparticles, while remaining weak enough to leave superconductivity intact. We find that while the ac conductivity still follows the general form $σ(ω) \sim ω^ϕ$, the exponent $ϕ$ can be mark…