Various superconductors, including cuprate superconductors, exhibit peculiar features above the transition temperature T_c. In particular the observation of a large diamagnetism and Nernst signal in a wide temperature window above T_c attracted considerable attention. Noting that this temperature window exceeds the fluctuation dominated regime drastically and that in these materials the spatial extent of homogeneity is limited, we explore the relevance of the zero dimensional (0D)-model, neglecting thermal fluctuations. It is shown that both, the full 0D-model as well as its Gaussian approximation, mimic the essential features of the isothermal magnetization curves in Pb nanoparticles and various cuprates remarkably well. This analysis also provides estimates for the spatial extent of the homogeneous domains giving rise to a smeared transition in zero magnetic field. The resulting estimates for the amplitude of the in-plane correlation length exhibit a doping dependence reflecting the flow to the quantum phase transition in the underdoped limit. Furthermore it is shown that the isothermal Nernst signal of a superconducting Nb_(0.15)Si_(0.85) film is fully consistent with this scenario. Accordingly, the observed diamagnetism above T_c in Pb nanoparticles, in the cuprates La_(1.91)Sr_(0.09)CuO_4 and BiSr_2Ca_2CuO_(8-d), as well as the Nernst signal in Nb_(0.15)Si_(0.85) films, are all in excellent agreement with the scaling properties emerging from the 0D-model, giving a universal perspective on the interplay between diamagnetism, Nernst signal, correlation length, and the limited spatial extent of homogeneity. Our analysis also provides evidence that singlet Cooper pairs subjected to orbital pair breaking in a 0D system are the main source of the observed diamagnetism and Nernst signal in an extended temperature window above T_c.
Semiconducting-like low-temperature in-plane resistivity indicates that there are no remnants of superconductivity above the resistive phase transition at T > Tc in underdoped cuprates. The model with the chemical potential pinned near the mobility edge inside the charge-transfer optical gap describes quantitatively the Nernst effect, thermopower, diamagnetism and the unusual low-temperature resistivity of underdoped cuprates as normal state phenomena above Tc.
When a superconductor is warmed above its critical temperature $T_c$, long range order is destroyed by fluctuations in the order parameter. These fluctuations can be probed by measurements of conductivity, diamagnetism, and of the Nernst effect. Here, we study a regime where superconductivity is destroyed by phase fluctuations arising from a dilute liquid of mobile vortices. We find that the Nernst effect and diamagnetic response differ significantly from Gaussian fluctuations -- in particular, a much sharper decay with temperature is obtained. We predict a rapid onset of Nernst signal at a te…
Anomalously large fluctuation diamagnetism around the superconducting critical temperature has been recently observed on iron selenide (FeSe) [S. Kasahara et al., unpublished]. This indicates that superconducting fluctuations (SCFs) play a more significant role in FeSe, which supposedly has two-band structure, than in the familiar single-band superconductors. Motivated by the data in FeSe, SCF-induced diamagnetism is examined in a two-band system, on the basis of a phenomenological approach with a Ginzburg-Landau functional. The obtained results indicate that the SCF-induced diamagnetism may b…
The observation of a strong nonlinear diamagnetic signal well above T_c in several cuprate superconductors constitutes clear evidence of the persistence of local superconducting correlations.
The new results summarized here, including a brief comparison with the paraconductivity, further suggest that the anomalous precursor (above Tc) diamagnetism recently observed in the underdoped La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 superconductor could be attributed to the presence, in addition to the conventional superconducting pair fluctuations, of Tc-inhomogeneities with long characteristic lengths associated with chemical disorder.
The fluctuation induced diamagnetism of underdoped high temperature superconductors is studied in the framework of the Lawrence-Doniach model. By taking into account the fluctuations of the phase of the order parameter only, the latter reduces to a layered XY-model describing a liquid of vortices which can be either thermally excited or induced by the external magnetic field. The diamagnetic response is given by a current-current correlation function which is evaluated using the Coulomb gas analogy. Our results are then applied to recent measurements of fluctuation diamagnetism in underdoped Y…
We study the Nernst effect in fluctuating superconductors by calculating the transport coefficient $α_{xy}$ in a phenomenological model where relative importance of phase and amplitude fluctuations of the order parameter is tuned continuously to smoothly evolve from an effective XY model to more conventional Ginzburg-Landau description. To connect with a concrete experimental realization we choose the model parameters appropriate for cuprate superconductors and calculate $α_{xy}$ and the magnetization ${\bf M}$ over the entire range of experimentally accessible values of field, temperature and…
We study the linear diamagnetic response of a superconducting cylinder coated by a normal-metal layer due to the proximity effect using the clean limit quasiclassical Eilenberger equations. We compare the results for the susceptibility with those for a planar geometry. Interestingly, for $R\sim d$ the cylinder exhibits a stronger overscreening of the magnetic field, i.e., at the interface to the superconductor it can be less than (-1/2) of the applied field. Even for $R\gg d$, the diamagnetism can be increased as compared to the planar case, viz. the magnetic susceptibility $4πχ$ becomes small…
The fluctuation-induced diamagnetism (FD), associated with the presence of precursor Cooper pairs in the normal state, has been measured in lanthanum with dilute magnetic (Pr) and nonmagnetic (Lu) impurities. It is found that while for pure La and La-Lu alloys the FD agrees, as expected, with the theoretical predictions, it is much larger for La-Pr alloys (around a factor 5 for La-2at.%Pr). These results suggest the existence of an indirect contribution to the FD arising from the interaction between fluctuating Cooper pairs and magnetic impurities.
The inhomogeneities inherent to the random distribution of Sr dopants in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 superconductors are probed by measuring the x-ray diffraction linewidths and the Meissner transition widths, and then consistently explained on the grounds of a simple model in which the local Sr content is calculated by averaging over distances close to the in-plane electronic mean free path. By taking into account these intrinsic bulk inhomogeneities with long characteristic lengths (much larger than the superconducting coherence length amplitudes), the precursor diamagnetism measured above Tc, a finge…
In hole-doped cuprates, Nernst experiments imply that the superconducting state is destroyed by spontaneous creation of vortices which destroy phase coherence. Using torque magnetometry on $\rm Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+δ}$, we uncover a field-enhanced diamagnetic signal $M$ above the transition temperature $T_c$ that increases with applied field to 32 Tesla and scales just like the Nernst signal. The magnetization results above $T_c$ distinguish $M$ from conventional amplitude fluctuations, and strongly support the vortex scenario for the loss of phase coherence at $T_c$.
It is often claimed that among the strongest evidence for preformed-pair physics in the cuprates are the experimentally observed large values for the diamagnetic susceptibility and Nernst coefficient. These findings are most apparent in the underdoped regime, where a pseudogap is also evident. While the conventional (Gaussian) fluctuation picture has been applied to address these results, this preformed-pair approach omits the crucial effects of a pseudogap. In this paper we remedy this omission by computing the diamagnetic susceptibility and Nernst coefficient in the presence of a normal stat…
The interplay between fluctuating Cooper pairs and magnetic impurities in conventional BCS low-Tc superconductors has been studied through measurements of the magnetic field dependence of the fluctuation diamagnetism (FD) above Tc in lanthanum with praseodymium impurities. These measurements provide a crucial confirmation of our previous observation [Europhys. Lett. 73, 587 (2006)] that in the dilute impurity regime the FD increases almost linearly with the concentration of magnetic impurities. This striking effect is attributed to a variation due to the presence of the fluctuating Cooper pair…
Recently, different transport coefficients have been measured in High-Tc superconductors to pinpoint the nature of the pseudogap phase. In particular, the thermoelectric coefficients received a considerable attention both theoretically and experimentally. We numerically simulate the Nernst effect in extreme type-II superconductors using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. We report the sign reversal of the thermoelectric coefficient, alpha_xy, at temperatures close to the mean-field transition temperature, Tc^{MF}(H), which qualitatively agrees with recent experiments on high-Tc mate…
A comment is made on a letter (Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 102}, 067001) and a paper (Phys. Rev. B {\bf 83}, 020506) regarding the correct expression of the thermal current vertex for Cooper pairs.
In the cuprate superconductors, Nernst and torque magnetization experiments have provided evidence that the disappearance of the Meissner effect at $T_c$ is caused by the loss of long-range phase coherence, rather than the vanishing of the pair condensate. Here we report a series of torque magnetization measurements on single crystals of $\mathrm{La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4}$ (LSCO), $\mathrm{Bi_2Sr_{2-y}La_yCuO_6}$ (Bi 2201), $\mathrm{Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+δ}}$ (Bi 2212) and optimal $\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_3O_7}$. Some of the measurements were taken to fields as high as 45 T. Focusing on the magnetization above …
Normal state orbital diamagnetism of charged bosons quantitatively accounts for recent high-resolution magnetometery results near and above the resistive critical temperature Tc of superconducting cuprates. Our parameter-free descriptions of normal state diamagnetism, Tc, upper critical fields and specific heat anomalies unambiguously support the 3D Bose-Einstein condensation at Tc of preformed real-space pairs with zero off-diagonal order parameter above Tc, at variance with phase fluctuation (or vortex) scenarios of the "normal" state of cuprates.
We study the Nernst effect due to vortex motion in two-dimensional granular superconductors using simulations with Langevin or resistively shunted Josephson-junction dynamics. In particular, we show that the geometric frustration of both regular and irregular granular materials can lead to thermally driven transport of vortices from colder to hotter regions, resulting in a sign reversal of the Nernst signal. We discuss the underlying mechanisms of this anomalous behavior in terms of heat transport by mobile vacancies in an otherwise pinned vortex lattice.
The aim of the present comment is to provoke the performance of simple additional measurements at Tc which, after a professional experimental data processing, will reveal an important quantitative information concerning the GL parameters and applicability of the GL theory for high-Tc superconductors in general. Confirmation of this would be crucial for the further studies of the fluctuation phenomena in superconductors.
We measure the transverse thermoelectric coefficient $α_{xy}$ in simulations of type-II superconductors in the vortex liquid regime, using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) equation with thermal noise. Our results are in reasonably good quantitative agreement with experimental data on cuprate samples, suggesting that this simple model of superconducting fluctuations contains much of the physics behind the large Nernst effect observed in these materials.
After a brief review of current ideas on stripe order in cuprate high-temperature superconductors, we discuss the quasiparticle Nernst effect in the cuprates, with focus on its evolution in non-superconducting stripe and related nematic states. In general, we find the Nernst signal to be strongly enhanced by nearby van-Hove singularities and Lifshitz transitions in the band structure, implying that phases with translation symmetry breaking often lead to a large quasiparticle Nernst effect due to the presence of multiple small Fermi pockets. Open orbits may contribute to the Nernst signal as we…
We present an analytical study of diamagnetism and transport in a film with superconducting phase fluctuations, formulated in terms of vortex dynamics within the Debye-Hückle approximation. We find that the diamagnetic and Nernst signals decay strongly with temperature in a manner which is dictated by the vortex core energy. Using the theory to interpret Nernst measurements of underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ above the critical temperature regime we obtain a considerably better fit to the data than a fit based on Gaussian order-parameter fluctuations. Our results indicate that the core energ…
We report measurements of the Nernst effect and of the magneto-resistance of granular aluminum films near the metal to insulator transition. These films show sharp transitions as a function of temperature and magnetic field. At low temperatures the Nernst signal displays a sharp peak at a field where more than 90% of the normal state resistance has been restored, suggesting a transition involving entropy transport after superconducting coherence has been destroyed. At temperatures higher than the critical temperature the fluctuation paraconductivity scales with the Nernst signal, in agreement …
This is an extended Reply to Comment by A. Sergeev, M.Y. Reizer, and V. Mitin [arXiv:0906.2389] on our Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 067001 (2009)]. We explicitly demonstrate that all claims by Sergeev et al. are completely unfounded, because their underlying theoretical work contains multiple errors and inconsistencies. For this reason, there is no need to revise the existing theories of thermoelectric response in superconductors.
Linear diamagnetism is predicted in the vortex-liquid phase of layered superconductors at temperatures just below the mean-field phase transition on the basis of a high-temperature analysis of the corresponding frustrated XY model. The diamagnetic susceptibility, and the Nernst signal by implication, is found to vanish with temperature as (T_c0 - T)^3 in the vicinity of the meanfield transition at T_c0. Quantitative agreement with recent experimental observations of a diamagnetic signal in the vortex-liquid phase of high-temperature superconductors is obtained.
A quantitative vortex-fluid model for flux-flow resistivity $ρ$ and Nernst signal $e_N$ in high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) is proposed. Two kinds of vortices, magnetic and thermal, are considered, and the damping viscosity $η$ is modeled by extending the Bardeen-Stephen model to include the contributions of flux pinning at low temperature and in weak magnetic fields, and vortex-vortex collisions in strong magnetic fields. Remarkably accurate descriptions for both Nernst signal of six samples and flux flow resistivity are achieved over a wide range of temperature $T$ and magnetic field …
We present a study of Seebeck and Nernst effect in combination with magnetoresistance and Hall measurements of the Kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. Sizable magneto-Seebeck signal appears once the charge density wave (CDW) order sets in below $T_{CDW}$=94 K. The Nernst signal peaks at a lower temperature $T^*$=35 K, crossing which the Hall coefficient switches sign, which we attribute to the ambipolar transport of compensated bands due to the multi-band nature of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. Sublinear Nernst signal as a function of magnetic field, together with large anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) also em…
In-plane Nernst signal and resistivity have been measured for three $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ single crystals (x=0.09, 0.11 and 0.145) with the magnetic field parallel to c-axis. A quadratic temperature dependence of resistivity, i.e., $ρ=ρ_0+aT^2$ is observed below a certain temperature $T_R$. It is found that the upper boundary of the Nernst signal $T_n$ coincides with $T_R$, which points to an inherent relation between the anomalous Nernst signal and the nodal quasiparticle transport in the pseudogap region. Finally a phase diagram together with the pseudogap temperature $T^*$ is presented, which…
The observation of a large Nernst signal $e_N$ in an extended region above the critical temperature $T_c$ in hole-doped cuprates provides evidence that vortex excitations survive above $T_c$. The results support the scenario that superfluidity vanishes because long-range phase coherence is destroyed by thermally-created vortices (in zero field), and that the pair condensate extends high into the pseudogap state in the underdoped (UD) regime. We present a series of measurements to high fields $H$ which provide strong evidence for this phase-disordering scenario.
We reveal a novel source of giant Nernst response exhibiting strong non-linear temperature and magnetic field dependence including the mysterious tilted-hill temperature profile observed in a pleiad of materials. The phenomenon results directly from the formation of a chiral ground state, e.g. a chiral d-density wave, which is compatible with the eventual observation of diamagnetism and is distinctly different from the usual quasiparticle and vortex Nernst mechanisms. Our picture provides a unified understanding of the anomalous thermoelectricity observed in materials as diverse as hole doped …
The magnetic field dependence of the magnetization was measured above the superconducting transition in a high-Tc underdoped cuprate La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 and in a low-Tc alloy (Pb55In45). Near the superconducting transition [typically for (T-Tc)/Tc<0.05] and under low applied magnetic field amplitudes [typically for H/Hc2(0)<0.01, where Hc2(0) is the corresponding upper critical field extrapolated to T=0 K] the magnetization of both samples presents a diamagnetic contribution much larger than the one predicted by the Gaussian Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach for superconducting fluctuations. These ano…
We report a systematic study of the Nernst effect in films of the electron doped cuprate superconductor La2-xCexCuO4 (LCCO) as a function of temperature and magnetic field (up to 14 T) over a range of doping from underdoped (x=0.08) to overdoped (x=0.16). We have determined the characteristic field scale HC2* of superconducting fluctuation which is found to track the dome-like dependence of superconductivity (TC). The fall of HC2* and TC with underdoping is most likely due to the onset of long range anti-ferromagnetic order. We also report the temperature onset, Tonset, of superconducting fluc…
The in-plane diamagnetism around the Meissner transition was measured in a Tl$_2$Ba$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10}$ single crystal of high chemical and structural quality, which minimizes the inhomogeneity and disorder rounding effects on the magnetization. When analyzed quantitatively and consistently above and below the transition in terms of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) approach with fluctuations of Cooper pairs and vortices, these data provide a further confirmation that the observed Meissner transition is a conventional GL superconducting transition in a homogeneous layered superconductor.
The Nernst effect has recently proven a sensitive probe for detecting unusual normal state properties of unconventional superconductors. In particular, it may sensitively detect Fermi surface reconstructions which are connected to a charge or spin density wave (SDW) ordered state, and even fluctuating forms of such a state. Here we summarize recent results for the Nernst effect of the iron pnictide superconductor $\rm LaO_{1-x}F_xFeAs$, whose ground state evolves upon doping from an itinerant SDW to a superconducting state, and the cuprate superconductor $\rm La_{1.8-x}Eu_{0.2}Sr_xCuO_4$ which…
Using a recently proposed Ginzburg-Landau-like lattice free energy functional due to Banerjee et al. Phys. Rev. B 83, 024510 (2011) we calculate the fluctuation diamagnetism of high-Tc superconductors as a function of doping, magnetic field and temperature. We analyse the pairing fluctuations above the superconducting transition temperature in the cuprates, ranging from the strong phase fluctuation dominated underdoped limit to the more conventional amplitude fluctuation dominated overdoped regime. We show that a model where the pairing scale increases and the superfluid density decreases with…
Recent measurements of fluctuation diamagnetism in high temperature superconductors show distinct features above and below Tc, which can not be explained by simple gaussian fluctuation theory. Self consistent calculation of magnetization in layered high temperature superconductors, based on the Ginzburg-Landau-Lawrence-Doniach model and including all Landau levels is presented. The results agree well with the experimental data in wide region around Tc, including both the vortex liquid below Tc and the normal state above Tc. The gaussian fluctuation theory significantly over estimates the diama…
The superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) is an excellent example for a quantum phase transition at zero temperature, dominated by quantum fluctuations. These are expected to be very prominent close to the quantum critical point. So far most of the experimental study of the SIT has concentrated on transport properties and tunneling experiments which provide indirect information on criticality close to the transition. Here we present an experiment uniquely designed to study the evolution of quantum fluctuations through the quantum critical point. We utilize the Nernst effect, which has been…
We measured the static uniform spin susceptibility of Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Rh$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ iron-based superconductors, over a broad range of doping ($0.041\leq x\leq 0.094$) and magnetic fields. At small fields ($H \le$ 1 kOe) we observed, above the transition temperature $T_c$, the occurrence of precursor diamagnetism, which is not ascribable to the Ginzburg-Landau theory. On the contrary, our data fit a phase fluctuation model, which has been used to interpret a similar phenomenology occurring in the high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors. On the other hand, in presence of strong fields the unconventi…
High resolution magnetization measurements performed in a high quality Ba_(1-x)K_xFe2As2 single crystal allowed to determine the diamagnetism induced above the superconducting transition by thermally activated Cooper pairs. These data, obtained with magnetic fields applied along and transverse to the crystal ab layers, demonstrate experimentally that the superconducting transition of iron pnictides may be explained at a phenomenological level in terms of the Gaussian Ginzburg-Landau approach for three-dimensional anisotropic superconductors.
In-plane longitudinal and transverse thermoelectric phenomena in two parent compounds of iron-based superconductors are studied. Namely, the Seebeck (S) and Nernst (n) coefficients were measured in the temperature range 10 - 300 K for BaFe2As2 and CaFe2As2 single crystals that were detwinned in-situ. The thermoelectric response shows sizeable anisotropy in the spin density wave state (SDW) for both compounds, while some dissimilarities in the vicinity of the SDW transition can be attributed to the different nature of the phase change in BaFe2As2 and CaFe2As2. Temperature dependences of S and n…
The magnetization around the superconducting transition was measured in YBa2Cu3O7-d with magnetic impurities in the CuO2 layers (Cu substituted by Zn or Ni) or between them (Y substituted by Gd or Pr). While some of these impurities have an important effect on the superconducting transition temperature (Tc), the precursor diamagnetism observed above Tc is not appreciably affected. This result contrasts with recent observations in a conventional BCS superconductor (La), in which the precursor diamagnetism was found to increase several orders of magnitude with the addition of a small amount (a f…
Domain wall motion in magnetic materiel induces the negative susceptibility leading to a perfect diamagnetism state. The local susceptibility is calculated by the derivative of magnetization ($\vec{M}$) vector w.r.t. magnetic field strength ($\vec{H}$) vector. In the transient region from the upward domain to the downward domain (domain wall width), local $\vec{M}$ and $\vec{H}$ vectors exhibit opposite slopes, which leads to a negative susceptibility value. A negative susceptibility value induces the diamagnetism effect leading to a relative permeability value $<$ 1 $\left(μ_r < 1\right)$. Th…
The Nernst effect has recently proven as a sensitive probe for detecting unusual normal state properties of unconventional superconductors. Here we present a systematic study of the Nernst effect of the iron pnictide superconductor \laf with a particular focus on its evolution upon doping. For the parent compound we observe a huge negative Nernst coefficient accompanied with a severe violation of the Sondheimer cancellation in the spin density wave (SDW) ordered state. Surprisingly, an unusual and enhanced Nernst signal is also found at underdoping ($x=0.05$) despite the presence of bulk super…
We calculate the Nernst signal in disordered conductors with the chemical potential near the mobility edge. The Nernst effect originates from interference of itinerant and localised-carrier contributions to the thermomagnetic transport. It reveals a strong temperature and magnetic field dependence, which describes quantitatively the anomalous Nernst signal in high-Tc cuprates.
We present a complete analysis of the Nernst signal due to superconducting fluctuations in a large variety of superconductors from conventional to unconventional ones. A closed analytical expression of the fluctuation contribution to the Nernst signal is obtained in a large range of temperature and magnetic field. We apply this expression directly to experimental measurements of the Nernst signal in Nb$_x$Si$_{1-x}$ thin films and a URu$_2$Si$_2$ superconductors. Both magnetic field and temperature dependence of the available data are fitted with very good accuracy using only two fitting param…
Nernst and magnetization experiments reveal the existence of a large region of the cuprate phase diagram above the $T_c$ curve in which vorticity and weak diamagnetism exist without phase coherence. We discuss the implication that the transition at $T_c$ is caused by the loss of long-range phase coherence caused by spontaneous vortex creation. Below $T_c$, these measurements provide an estimate of the depairing field $H_{c2}$ which is found to be very large (40-100 T depending on doping). We discuss the high-field Nernst and magnetization results, binding energy, and the phase diagram of hole-…
Recently experiments on high critical temperature superconductors has shown that the doping levels and the superconducting gap are usually not uniform properties but strongly dependent on their positions inside a given sample. Local superconducting regions develop at the pseudogap temperature ($T^*$) and upon cooling, grow continuously. As one of the consequences a large diamagnetic signal above the critical temperature ($T_c$) has been measured by different groups. Here we apply a critical-state model for the magnetic response to the local superconducting domains between $T^*$ and $T_c$ and s…
We consider the Nernst and Hall effects in fluctuation regime of chiral superconductors above transition temperatures, that are raised not by conventional Lorentz force, but by asymmetric scattering due to fluctuations of the Berry phase of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes Hamiltonian. It is found that these effects can be more significant than conventional ones for cleaner samples, exhibiting qualitatively distinct behaviors. The results provide systematic and comprehensive understanding for recent experimental observations of the Nernst effect in a clean URu$_2$Si$_2$ sample, which is suggested to b…
It is shown that nanoparticles made of low $T_c$ superconductors have large diamagnetic response at temperatures several orders of magnitude above $T_c$. Most features of the recently observed Giant diamagnetism of Au nanorods are explained in terms of superconducting fluctuations, except for the huge magnitude of the effect.
In a recent letter, Alexandrov and Zavaritsky propose a model to explain the anomalous Nernst signal observed in the normal state of hole-doped cuprates. The aim of this comment is to recall that one of the main assumptions of the authors regarding the experimental data is false.
We investigate the spin-Nernst effect in time-reversal invariant topological superconductors, and show that it provides a smoking-gun evidence for helical Cooper pairs. The spin-Nernst effect stems from asymmetric, in spin space, scattering of quasiparticles at nonmagnetic impurities, and generates a transverse spin current by the temperature gradient. Both the sign and the magnitude of the effect sensitively depend on the scattering phase shift at impurity sites. Therefore the spin-Nernst effect is uniquely suitable for identifying time-reversal invariant topological superconducting orders.
A liquid of superconducting vortices generates a transverse thermoelectric response. This Nernst signal has a tail deep in the normal state due to superconducting fluctuations. Here, we present a study of the Nernst effect in two-dimensional hetero-structures of Nb-doped strontium titanate (STO) and in amorphous MoGe. The Nernst signal generated by ephemeral Cooper pairs above the critical temperature has the magnitude expected by theory in STO. On the other hand, the peak amplitude of the vortex Nernst signal below $T_c$ is comparable in both and in numerous other superconductors despite the …
We report the first Nernst effect measurement on the new iron-based superconductor LaO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$FeAs $(x=0.1)$. In the normal state, the Nernst signal is negative and very small. Below $T_{c}$ a large positive peak caused by vortex motion is observed. The flux flowing regime is quite large compared to conventional type-II superconductors. However, a clear deviation of the Nernst signal from normal state background and an anomalous depression of off-diagonal thermoelectric current in the normal state between $T_{c}$ and 50 K are observed. We propose that this anomaly in the normal state Ne…
We present a study of the Nernst effect in amorphous 2D superconductor InO$_x$, whose low carrier density implies low phase rigidity and strong superconducting phase fluctuations. Instead of presenting the abrupt jump expected at a BCS transition, the Nernst signal evolves continuously through the superconducting transition as previously observed in underdoped cuprates. This contrasts with the case of Nb$_{0.15}$Si$_{0.85}$, where the Nernst signal due to vortices below T$_{c}$ and by Gaussian fluctuations above are clearly distinct. The behavior of the ghost critical field in InO$_x$ points t…
SQUID magnetization measurements in oriented powders of Y$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$Ba$% _{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{y}$, with $x$ ranging from 0 to 0.2, for $y\approx 6.1$ and $y\approx 6.97$, have been performed in order to study the doping dependence of the fluctuating diamagnetism above the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$. While for optimally doped compounds the diamagnetic susceptibility and the magnetization curves $-M_{fl}(T=const$) vs. $H$ are rather well justified on the basis of an anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (GL) functional, in underdoped and overdoped regimes an anomalous diamagnetism is …
A simple model describing the Nernst-Ettingshausen effect (NEE) in two-component electronic liquids is formulated. The examples considered include graphite, where the normal and Dirac fermions coexist, superconductor in fluctuating regime, with coexisting Cooper pairs and normal electrons, and the inter-stellar plasma of electrons and protons. We give a general expression for the Nernst constant and show that the origin of a giant NEE is in the strong dependence of the chemical potential on temperature in all cases.
A series of recent experiments on the Nernst effect, upper critical field $H_{c2}$ and enhanced diamagnetic magnetization $M$ by Wang et al (PRB 73, 024510), were interpreted as to provide evidence for the pseudogap scenario which long-range phase coherence is destroyed by thermally-created vortices. We present here calculations in good agreement with these measurements but based on the local formation of conventional Bogoliubov-deGennes (BdG) superconducting regions in doped disordered cuprate superconductors. Our results imply in an alternate scenario which the disorder plays a fundamental r…
We present a review of the vortex-Nernst effect in the 3 cuprate families La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4, Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8, and YBa_2Cu_3O_{y}, and discuss the scenario that the superconducting transition in the hole-doped cuprates corresponds to the destruction of long-range phase coherence rather than the vanishing of the order-parameter amplitude.
