Please wait a minute...
Chin. Phys. B, 2021, Vol. 30(10): 106802    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac0903
CONDENSED MATTER: STRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL, AND THERMAL PROPERTIES Prev   Next  

Direct observation of the scaling relation between density of states and pairing gap in a dirty superconductor

Chang-Jiang Zhu(朱长江)1,2,†, Limin Liu(刘立民)1,2,†, Peng-Bo Song(宋鹏博)1,2,†, Han-Bin Deng(邓翰宾)1,2, Chang-Jiang Yi(伊长江)1, Ying-Kai Sun(孙英开)1,2, R Wu(武睿)1,5, Jia-Xin Yin(殷嘉鑫)4, Youguo Shi(石友国)1,‡, Ziqiang Wang(汪自强)6,§, and Shuheng H. Pan(潘庶亨)1,2,3,5,¶
1 Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
2 School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
3 CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
4 Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy(B7), Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA;
5 Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan 523808, China;
6 Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
Abstract  Theories and experiments on dirty superconductors are complex but important in terms of both theoretical fundamentals and practical applications. These activities are even more challenging when magnetic fields are present because the field distribution, electron density of states, and superconducting pairing potentials become nonuniform. Here, we present tunneling microspectroscopic experiments on NbC single crystals and demonstrate that NbC is a homogeneous dirty superconductor. When applying magnetic fields to the samples, we found that the zero-energy local density of states and the pairing energy gap followed the explicit scaling relation proposed by de Gennes for homogeneous dirty superconductors in high magnetic fields. More significantly, our experimental findings indicate that the validity of the scaling relation extends to magnetic field strengths far below the upper critical field, calling for a new nonperturbative understanding of this fundamental property in dirty superconductors. On the practical side, we used the observed scaling relation to derive a simple and straightforward experimental scheme for estimating the superconducting coherence length of a dirty superconductor in magnetic fields.
Keywords:  NbC      dirty superconductor      de Gennes theory      scanning tunneling microscope  
Received:  01 June 2021      Revised:  02 June 2021      Accepted manuscript online:  08 June 2021
PACS:  68.37.Ef (Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM))  
  74.25.Ha (Magnetic properties including vortex structures and related phenomena)  
  74.62.-c (Transition temperature variations, phase diagrams)  
  74.70.Ad (Metals; alloys and binary compounds)  
Fund: Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0302903, 2016YFA0300602, 2016YFA0300604, and 2016YFJC010282), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11227903, 12004416, and U2032204), the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, China (Grant Nos. Z181100004218007 and Z191100007219011), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2015CB921304), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDB07000000, XDB28000000 and XDB33000000). Z.W. was supported by the US Department of Energy (Basic Energy Sciences Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER45747).
Corresponding Authors:  Youguo Shi, Ziqiang Wang, Shuheng H. Pan     E-mail:  ygshi@iphy.ac.cn;ziqiang.wang@bc.edu;span@iphy.ac.cn

Cite this article: 

Chang-Jiang Zhu(朱长江), Limin Liu(刘立民), Peng-Bo Song(宋鹏博), Han-Bin Deng(邓翰宾), Chang-Jiang Yi(伊长江), Ying-Kai Sun(孙英开), R Wu(武睿), Jia-Xin Yin(殷嘉鑫), Youguo Shi(石友国), Ziqiang Wang(汪自强), and Shuheng H. Pan(潘庶亨) Direct observation of the scaling relation between density of states and pairing gap in a dirty superconductor 2021 Chin. Phys. B 30 106802

[1] Anderson P W 1959 J. Phys. Chem. Solids 11 26
[2] de Gennes P G 1964 Physik der kondensierten Materie 3 79
[3] Saint-James D, Sarma G and Thomas E J 1969 Type-Ⅱ Superconductivity (Pergamon: Oxford) p. 475 Eq. (6.83)
[4] Fente A, Herrera E, Guillamón I, Suderow H, Mañas-Valero S, Galbiati M, Coronado E and Kogan V G 2016 Phys. Rev. B 94 014517
[5] Pan S H, Hudson E W, Lang K M, Eisaki H, Uchida S and Davis J C 2000 Nature 403 746
[6] Hudson E W, Lang K M, Madhavan V, Pan S H, Eisaki H, Uchida S and Davis J C 2001 Nature 411 920
[7] Yin J X, Wu Z, Wang J H, Ye Z Y, Gong J, Hou X Y, Shan L, Li A, Liang X J, Wu X X, Li J, Ting C S, Wang Z Q, Hu J P, Hor P H, Ding H and Pan S H 2015 Nat. Phys. 11 543
[8] Pan S H, Hudson E W, Gupta A K, Ng K W, Eisaki H, Uchida S and Davis J C 2000 Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 1536
[9] Shan L, Wang Y L, Shen B, Zeng B, Huang Y, Li A, Wang D, Yang H, Ren C, Wang Q H, Pan S H and Wen H H 2011 Nat. Phys. 7 325
[10] Fischer K, Fruchter L, Hergt R, Linzen D, Bruchlos G and Chebotayev N M 1991 Mater. Lett. 11 85
[11] Pan S H, O'Neal J P, Badzey R L, Chamon C, Ding H, Engelbrecht J R, Wang Z, Eisaki H, Uchida S, Gupta A K, Ng K W, Hudson E W, Lang K M and Davis J C 2001 Nature 413 282
[12] Pasupathy A N, Pushp A, Gomes K K, Parker C V, Wen J, Xu Z, Gu G, Ono S, Ando Y and Yazdani A 2008 Science 320 196
[13] Cho D, Bastiaans K M, Chatzopoulos D, Gu G D and Allan M P 2019 Nature 571 541
[14] Toth L E 1971 Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides (New York: Academic Press) p. 90
[15] Hwu H H and Chen J G 2005 Chem. Rev. 105 185
[16] Woydt M and Mohrbacher H 2014 Wear 321 1
[17] Matthias B T and Hulm J K 1952 Phys. Lett. 87 799
[18] Giorgi A L, Szklarz E G, Storms E K, Bowman A L and Matthias B T 1962 Phys. Lett. 125 837
[19] Willens R H, Buehler E and Matthias B T 1967 Phys. Lett. 159 327
[20] Peehen E V, Krasnosvobodtsev S I, Shabanova N P, Ekimov E V, Varlashkin A V, Nozdrin V S, Tschovrebov A M and Golovashkin A I 1994 Physica C 235-240 2511
[21] Pronin A V, Gorshunov B P, Volkov A A and Kozlov G V 1996 J. Exp. Theor. Phys+. 82 790
[22] Shang T, Zhao J Z, Gawryluk D J, Shi M, Medarde M, Pomjakushina E and Shiroka T 2020 Phys. Rev. B 101 214518
[23] Yan D, Geng D, Gao Q, Cui Z, Yi C, Feng Y, C Song, H Luo, M Yang, M Arita, S Kumar, E F Schwier, K Shimada, L Zhao, K Wu, H Weng, L Chen, X J Zhou, Z Wang, Y Shi and B Feng 2020 Phys. Rev. B 102 205117
[24] Tsong R M, Schmid M, Nagl C, Varga P, Davis R F and Tsong I S T 1996 Surf. Sci. 366 85
[25] Tagawa M, Kawasaki T, Oshima C, Otani S, Edamoto K and Nagashima A 2002 Surf. Sci. 517 59
[26] Yu L 1965 Acta Phys. Sin. 75 75 (in Chinese)
[27] Shiba H 1968 Prog. Theor. Phys. 40 435
[28] Rusinov A I 1969 J. Exp. Theor. Phys+. 29 1101
[29] Yazdani A, Jones B A, Lutz C P, Crommie M F and Eigler D M 1997 Science 275 1767
[30] Dynes R C, Narayanamurti V and Garno J P 1978 Phys. Rev. Lett. 41 1509
[31] Alldredge J W, Lee J, McElroy K, Wang M, Fujita K, Kohsaka Y, Taylor C, Eisaki H, Uchida S, Hirschfeld P J and Davis J C 2008 Nat. Phys. 4 319
[32] Hanaguri T, S Niitaka, K Kuroki and H Takagi 2010 Science 328 474
[33] Iwaya K, Kohsaka Y, Okawa K, Machida T, Bahramy M S, Hanaguri T and Sasagawa T 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 976
[34] Caroli C, De Gennes P G and Matricon J 1964 Phys. Lett. 9 307
[35] Hess H F, Robinson R B and Waszczak J V 1991 Physica B 169 422
[36] Odobesko A, Friedrich F, Zhang S B, Haldar S, Heinze S, Trauzettel B and Bode M 2020 Phys. Rev. B 102 174502
[37] Renner C, Kent A D, Niedermann P, Fischer O and Levy F 1991 Phys. Rev. Lett. 67 1650
[38] Gygi F and Schluter M 1991 Phys. Rev. B 43 7609
[39] Eskildsen M R, Kugler M, Tanaka S, Jun J, Kazakov S M, Karpinski J and Fischer O 2002 Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 187003
[40] Ginzburg V L and Landau L D 1950 Sov. Phys. JETP 20 1064
[1] Monolayer MoS2 of high mobility grown on SiO2 substrate by two-step chemical vapor deposition
Jia-Jun Ma(马佳俊), Kang Wu(吴康), Zhen-Yu Wang(王振宇), Rui-Song Ma(马瑞松), Li-Hong Bao(鲍丽宏), Qing Dai(戴庆), Jin-Dong Ren(任金东), and Hong-Jun Gao(高鸿钧). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(8): 088105.
[2] Two-dimensional Sb cluster superlattice on Si substrate fabricated by a two-step method
Runxiao Zhang(张润潇), Zi Liu(刘姿), Xin Hu(胡昕), Kun Xie(谢鹍), Xinyue Li(李新月), Yumin Xia(夏玉敏), and Shengyong Qin(秦胜勇). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(8): 086801.
[3] Experimental observation of pseudogap in a modulation-doped Mott insulator: Sn/Si(111)-(√30×√30)R30°
Yan-Ling Xiong(熊艳翎), Jia-Qi Guan(关佳其), Rui-Feng Wang(汪瑞峰), Can-Li Song(宋灿立), Xu-Cun Ma(马旭村), and Qi-Kun Xue(薛其坤). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(6): 067401.
[4] Molecular beam epitaxy growth of iodide thin films
Xinqiang Cai(蔡新强), Zhilin Xu(徐智临), Shuai-Hua Ji(季帅华), Na Li(李娜), and Xi Chen(陈曦). Chin. Phys. B, 2021, 30(2): 028102.
[5] Edge-and strain-induced band bending in bilayer-monolayer Pb2Se3 heterostructures
Peng Fan(范朋), Guojian Qian(钱国健), Dongfei Wang(王东飞), En Li(李恩), Qin Wang(汪琴), Hui Chen(陈辉), Xiao Lin(林晓), and Hong-Jun Gao(高鸿钧). Chin. Phys. B, 2021, 30(1): 018105.
[6] Epitaxial growth of antimony nanofilms on HOPG and thermal desorption to control the film thickness
Shuya Xing(邢淑雅), Le Lei(雷乐), Haoyu Dong(董皓宇), Jianfeng Guo(郭剑峰), Feiyue Cao(曹飞跃), Shangzhi Gu(顾尚志), Sabir Hussain, Fei Pang(庞斐), Wei Ji(季威), Rui Xu(许瑞), Zhihai Cheng(程志海). Chin. Phys. B, 2020, 29(9): 096801.
[7] Epitaxial synthesis and electronic properties of monolayer Pd2Se3
Peng Fan(范朋), Rui-Zi Zhang(张瑞梓), Jing Qi(戚竞), En Li(李恩), Guo-Jian Qian(钱国健), Hui Chen(陈辉), Dong-Fei Wang(王东飞), Qi Zheng(郑琦), Qin Wang(汪琴), Xiao Lin(林晓), Yu-Yang Zhang(张余洋), Shixuan Du(杜世萱), Hofer W A, Hong-Jun Gao(高鸿钧). Chin. Phys. B, 2020, 29(9): 098102.
[8] Atomic-level characterization of liquid/solid interface
Jiani Hong(洪嘉妮) and Ying Jiang(江颖). Chin. Phys. B, 2020, 29(11): 116803.
[9] Machine learning identification of impurities in the STM images
Ce Wang(王策), Haiwei Li(李海威), Zhenqi Hao(郝镇齐), Xintong Li(李昕彤), Changwei Zou(邹昌炜), Peng Cai(蔡鹏), Yayu Wang(王亚愚), Yi-Zhuang You(尤亦庄), and Hui Zhai(翟荟). Chin. Phys. B, 2020, 29(11): 116805.
[10] Fine structures of defect cores induced by elastic anisotropy and biaxiality in hybrid alignment nematics
Xuan Zhou(周璇), Si-Bo Chen(陈思博), Zhi-Dong Zhang(张志东). Chin. Phys. B, 2018, 27(5): 056103.
[11] Elastic scattering of surface states on three-dimensional topological insulators
Wang Jing (王靖), Zhu Bang-Fen (朱邦芬). Chin. Phys. B, 2013, 22(6): 067301.
[12] The influence of annealing temperature on the morphology of graphene islands
Huang Li (黄立), Xu Wen-Yan (徐文焱), Que Yan-De (阙炎德), Pan Yi (潘毅), Gao Min (高敏), Pan Li-Da (潘理达), Guo Hai-Ming (郭海明), Wang Ye-Liang (王业亮), Du Shi-Xuan (杜世萱), Gao Hong-Jun (高鸿钧 ). Chin. Phys. B, 2012, 21(8): 088102.
[13] Measuring thermoelectric property of nano-heterostructure
Lu Hong-Liang(路红亮), Zhang Chen-Dong(张晨栋), Cai Jin-Ming(蔡金明), Gao Min(高敏), Zou Qiang(邹强), Guo Hai-Ming(郭海明), and Gao Hong-Jun(高鸿钧) . Chin. Phys. B, 2011, 20(10): 107301.
[14] MANIPULATION OF ATOMS, MOLECULES AND CLUSTERS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NANOSYSTEMS
F. Moresco, S.W. Hla, J. Repp, K.-F. Braun, S. F?lsch, G. Meyer, K. H. Rieder. Chin. Phys. B, 2001, 10(13): 10-18.
No Suggested Reading articles found!