A minimal size for granular superconductors

Abstract

We investigate the minimal size of small superconducting grains by means of a Ginzburg-Landau model confined to a sphere of radius $R$. This model is supposed to describe a material in the form of a ball, whose transition temperature when presented in bulk form, $T_0$, is known. We obtain an equation for the critical temperature as a function of $R$ and of $T_0$, allowing us to arrive at the minimal radius of the sphere below which no superconducting transition exists.

6 pages, Revtex, no figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• First-order phase transitions in superconducting films: A Euclidean model