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Spectroscopic Evidence for the Superconductivity of Elemental Metal Y under Pressure
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Very high applied pressure induces superconductivity with the transition temperature ($T_c$) exceeding 19 K in elemental yttrium, but relatively little is known about the nature of that superconductivity. From point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) measurements in a diamond anvil cell (DAC), a strong enhancement in the differential conductance is revealed near the zero-biased voltage owing to Andreev reflection, a hallmark of the superconducting (SC) phase. Analysis of the PCS spectra based on the extended Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) model indicates two SC gaps at 48.6 GPa, where the large gap $\Delta_L$ is 3.63 meV and the small gap $\Delta_S$ is 0.46 meV. When scaled against a reduced temperature, both small and large SC gaps collapse on a single curve that follows the prediction from BCS theory. The SC gap-to-$T_c$ ratio is 8.2 for the larger gap, and the initial slope of the upper critical field is -1.9 T/K, indicating that Y belongs to a family of strongly coupled BCS superconductors. The successful application of PCS to Y in DAC environments demonstrates its utility for future research on other pressure-induced high-$T_c$ superconductors.<br />Comment: 4 figures
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....59711e4a3ec69466ad74e6c6f6c00bf0