Thermodynamic parameters of single- or multi-band superconductors derived from self-field critical currents

Abstract

Key questions for any superconductor include: what is its maximum dissipation-free electrical current (its `critical current') and can this be used to extract fundamental thermodynamic parameters? Present models focus on depinning of magnetic vortices and implicate materials engineering to maximise pinning performance. But recently we showed that the self-field critical current for thin films is a universal property, independent of microstructure, controlled only by the penetration depth. Here we generalise this observation to include thin films, wires or nanowires of single- or multi-band s-wave and d-wave superconductors. Using extended BCS theory we consider dissipation-free self-field transport currents as Meissner-London currents, avoiding the concept of pinning altogether. We find quite generally, for type I or type II superconductors, the current is limited by the relevant critical field divided by the penetration depth. Our fits to 62 available data sets, from zinc nanowires to compressed sulphur hydride with critical temperatures of 0.65 to 203 K, respectively, are excellent. Extracted London penetration depths, superconducting energy gaps and specific heat jumps agree well with reported bulk values. For multiband or multiphase samples we accurately recover individual band contributions and phase fractions.

14 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables submitted to Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (29)

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• Universal scaling of the self-field critical current in superconductors: from sub-nanometre to millimetre size
• Classifying superconductivity in compressed H3S
• Classifying superconductivity in Moiré graphene superlattices
• Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior of Superconducting SnH${}_4$
• Classifying hydrogen-rich superconductors
• p-Wave Superconductivity in Iron-based Superconductors
• A peak in the critical current for quantum critical superconductors
• Clear evidence against superconductivity in hydrides under high pressure
• Condensate flow in holographic models in the presence of dark matter
• Vortex phase dynamics in yttrium superhydride YH${}_6$ at megabar pressures
• Quantifying nonadiabaticity in major families of superconductors
• Quantifying interaction mechanism in infinite layer nickelate superconductors
• Classifying superconductivity in ThH-ThD superhydrides/superdeuterides
• The electron-phonon coupling constant, the Fermi temperature and unconventional superconductivity in the carbonaceous sulfur hydride 190 K superconductor
• Unconventional superconductivity in highly-compressed unannealed sulphur hydride
• Current distribution across type II superconducting films: a new vortex-free critical state
• Comparison of highly-compressed C2/m-SnH12 superhydride with conventional superconductors
• The onset of dissipation in high-temperature superconductors: magnetic hysteresis and field dependence
• $d$-wave superconductivity as a model for diborides apart MgB${}_2$
• Quasi Two-dimensional Vortex Matter in ThH${}_{10}$ Superhydride
• Spinning superconductors and ferromagnets
• Method to extracting the penetration field in superconductors from DC magnetization data
• Advanced McMillan's equation and its application for the analysis of highly-compressed superconductors
• Debye temperature in LaHx-LaDy superconductors
• Enhanced superconducting properties of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+x}$ films with sub-50-nm thickness
• p-wave Superfluid Phases of Fermi Molecules in a Bilayer Lattice Array
• Josephsonic diagnostic of competing orders in quantum critical multiband superconductors
• Cooper pair trajectories in superconducting slab at self-field conditions