Prediction of superconducting transition temperatures of heterostructures based on the quasiparticle spectrum

Gábor Csire, József Cserti, István Tütto, Balázs Újfalussy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
334 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this paper we present material specific calculations of superconductor-normal metal heterostructures using density functional theory combined with a semiphenomenological parametrization of the electron-phonon coupling. In particular, we calculate the quasiparticle spectrum of different normal metal overlayers on a Nb(100) host. We find that the Andreev reflection leads to the formation of momentum dependent quasiparticle bands in the normal metal. As a consequence, the spectrum has a strongly momentum dependent induced gap. We develop a model to calculate the superconducting critical temperature from the thickness dependence of the induced gap. In the case of Au/Nb(100) heterostructures we find very good agreement with experiments. Moreover, predictions are made for similar heterostructures of other compounds.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104511
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume94
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Sept 2016

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