Signatures of superconducting gap inhomogeneities in optical properties

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dc.creatorLeBlanc, J. P. F.
dc.creatorNicol, E. J.
dc.creatorCarbotte, J. P.
dc.date2008-06-12
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T13:11:06Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T13:11:06Z
dc.descriptionScanning tunneling spectroscopy applied to the high-$T_{c}$ cuprates has revealed significant spatial inhomogeneity on the nanoscale. Regions on the order of a coherence length in size show variations of the magnitude of the superconducting gap of order $\pm20%$ or more. An important unresolved question is whether or not these variations are also present in the bulk, and how they influence superconducting properties. As many theories and data analyses for high-$T_{c}$ superconductivity assume spatial homogeneity of the gap magnitude, this is a pressing question. We consider the far-infrared optical conductivity and evaluate, within an effective medium approximation, what signatures of spatial variations in gap magnitude are present in various optical quantities. In addition to the case of d-wave superconductivity, relevant to the high-$T_c$ cuprates, we have also considered s-wave gap symmetry in order to provide expected signatures of inhomogeneities for superconductors in general. While signatures of gap inhomogeneities can be strongly manifested in s-wave superconductors, we find that the far-infrared optical conductivity in d-wave is robust against such inhomogeneity.
dc.description8 pages, 7 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0806.2131
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0806.2131
dc.identifierPhys. Rev. B 78, 094513 (2008)
dc.identifierdoi:10.1103/PhysRevB.78.094513
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/229186
dc.subjectSuperconductivity
dc.subjectStrongly Correlated Electrons
dc.titleSignatures of superconducting gap inhomogeneities in optical properties
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