Showing papers by "J. Albino Aguiar published in 2016"

Superconductivity between standard types: Multiband versus single-band materials

Abstract: In the nearest vicinity of the critical temperature, types I and II of conventional single-band superconductors interchange at the Ginzburg-Landau parameter $\ensuremath{\kappa}=1/\sqrt{2}$. At lower temperatures this point unfolds into a narrow but finite interval of $\ensuremath{\kappa}$'s, shaping an intertype (transitional) domain in the $(\ensuremath{\kappa},T)$ plane. In the present work, based on the extended Ginzburg-Landau formalism, we show that the same picture of the two standard types with the transitional domain in between applies also to multiband superconductors. However, the intertype domain notably widens in the presence of multiple bands and can become extremely large when the system has a significant disparity between the band parameters. It is concluded that many multiband superconductors, such as recently discovered borides and iron-based materials, can belong to the intertype regime.

Flux flow in current driven mesoscopic superconductors: size effects

Abstract: Flux-flow phenomena in a superconducting mesoscopic stripe submitted to an applied current and external magnetic field is studied. The time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations are solved numerically to obtain the electric and magnetic response of the system. It is shown that the I-V curves, for the wider strips, present a universal behaviour. The dependence of the flux-flow resistivity on the magnetic field and width allow us to propose a criterion characterizing, both, the macroscopic and mesoscopic regimes. The power spectrum of the average voltage permits identifying the effect of surface currents in vortices movement. Based on the maximum value of the power spectrum first harmonic we propose a geometric condition for matching between the sample dimensions and the vortex lattice parameter.

Study of the superconducting properties of the new intermetallic compound Zr1-xNbxB2

Abstract: In this paper we report on the synthesis and the structural, electrical, magnetic and thermal analysis for the new material (0.01 x 0.05). A superconducting transition was observed for all x values studied, despite the non-superconducting matrix ZrB2, which indicates that the superconducting state is induced by the presence of Nb. The results show that the critical temperature increases with Nb content, reaching its maximum (T c = 8.1 K) for x = 0.04. From the specific heat data we find a Sommerfeld constant of γ = 1.6 mJ molK−2 and a Debye temperature of = 615.5 K. Unconventional behaviors are observed in specific heat dependence with temperature and in diagram. These behaviors are investigated in versus T curve, where an upturn appears for K, and in versus dependence, which shows a clear deviation from BCS theory for low temperatures. Also, contrary to the conventional theories we found a positive curvature for temperatures near T c in the lower critical field, besides an upturn around 2.3 K. We suggest that these behaviors possibly arise from multiband superconductivity in .