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    Crystal growth, characterization, and point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor Mo 3 Al 2 C

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    We report on the first successful growth of single crystals of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor Mo3Al2C obtained by means of a cubic-anvil, high-pressure, and high-temperature technique. Composition, structure, and normal-state transport properties of the crystals were studied by means of x-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility, and resistivity measurements as a function of temperature. Variations in critical temperature (Tc) between 8.6 and 9.3 K were observed, probably due to the slightly different carbon stoichiometry of the samples. Single-crystal x-ray refinement confirmed the high structural perfection of the grown crystals. Remarkably, the refined Flack parameter values for all the measured crystals using a P4132 space-group model were consistently close to either 0 or 1, hence indicating that the considered crystals belong to two enantiomorphic space groups, P4132 and P4332. An anomaly in the resistivity is observed at 130 K, most likely associated with the onset of a charge-density-wave phase. The superconducting properties (and in particular the symmetry, the amplitude, and the temperature dependence of the superconducting gap) were studied by using point contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy. The results confirm that Mo3Al2C is a moderately strongly-coupled superconductor with 2Delta/kBTc = 4 and unambiguously prove that the order parameter has an s-wave symmetry despite the asymmetric spin-orbit coupling arising from the lack of inversion symmetry

    Energy dependence of the normal density of states and of the electron-phonon spectral function in the quasiparticle tunneling of high-Tc superconductors

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    We discuss the effects of quasiparticle energy dependence of the normal density of states on the Eliashberg equations in the case of high-Tc superconductors and compare the numerical results with our recent tunneling experimental data in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x with Tc = 93 K. We also consider the possibility of quasiparticle energy dependence of the electron-phonon spectral function α2(Ω)F(Ω) and calculate its effects on the superconducting density of states

    Probing the current-phase relation in Josephson point-contact junctions between Pb 0.6 In 0.4 and Ba 0.6 K 0.4 (FeAs) 2 superconductors

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    The Josephson effect in point contacts between an “ordinary” superconductor Pb 0.6In0.4 (Tc≈6.6K) and single crystals of the Fe-based superconductor Ba0.6K0.4(FeAs)2 (Tc≈38.5K), was investigated. In order to shed light on the order parameter symmetry of Ba0.6K0.4(FeAs)2, the dependence of the Josephson supercurrent Is on the temperature and on sin (dφ) with d= 1 , 2 was studied. The dependencies of the critical current on temperature Ic(T) and of the amplitudes of the first current steps of the current–voltage characteristic inexp(P)(n= 0 , 1 , 2) on the power of microwave radiation with frequency f=(1.5÷8)GHz were measured. It is shown that the dependencies Ic(T) are close to the well-known Ambegaokar–Baratoff (AB) dependence for tunnel contacts between “ordinary” superconductors and to the dependence calculated by Burmistrova et al. (Phys Rev B 91, 214501 (2015)) for microshorts between an “ordinary” superconductor and a two-band superconductor with s± order parameter symmetry at certain values of the transparency of boundaries and thickness of the transition layer. It is found that the dependencies inexp(P) cannot be approximated within the resistively shunted model using the normalized microwave frequencies Ω = 2 πf/ (2 eVc/ ħ) with characteristic voltages Vc= IcRN, (RN—normal resistance of the contact) found from the low-voltage parts of the current–voltage characteristics. The reasons for this failure are discussed and a method is proposed for accurately determining the value of Ω , which takes into account all the features of the point contact affecting the period of the dependence inexp(P). An analysis of the Ic(T) and inexp(P) dependencies shows that the superconducting current of the Josephson contacts under investigation is proportional to the sin of the phase difference φ, Is= Icsin(φ). The implications of these results on the symmetry of the order parameter are also discussed

    Eliashberg equations, pair symmetry and tunnel density of states in the optimally-doped high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x

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    In this work, in order to compare the theoretical density of states (DOS) to the tunneling data in the optimally-doped high-Tc superconductor (HTS) Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x, we calculate the real-axis direct solution of the d-wave equations for the retarded electron-boson interaction in presence of half-filling and impurities. The use of a spectral function containing an isotropic part αs2F(Ω) and an anisotropic one αd2F(Ω) and the simple assumption: αd2F(Ω) = gdαs2F(Ω) where gd is a constant leads, for appropriate values of the isotropic coupling constant λs and the anisotropic one λd, to solutions with only d-wave symmetry for the order parameter Δ(ω) and only s-wave one for the renormalization function Z(ω). The results properly fit both the critical temperature and the DOS in the whole energy range, as recently determined in our break-junction tunneling experiments, but appear unable to do the same in the case of recent STM data
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