Critical fluctuations in the thermodynamics of quasi-two-dimensional type-II supeconductors

Anisotropy dependence of the fluctuation spectroscopy in the critical and gaussian regimes in superconducting NaFe1-xCo x As single crystals

We investigate thermal fluctuations in terms of diamagnetism and magnetotransport in superconducting NaFe_1−xCo_xAs single crystals with different doping levels. Results show that in the case of optimal doped and lightly overdoped (x = 0.03, 0.05) crystals the analysis in the critical as well as in the Gaussian fluctuation regions is consistent with the Ginzburg-Landau 3D fluctuation theory. However, in the case of strongly overdoped samples (x ≥ 0.07) the Ullah-Dorsey scaling of the fluctuation induced magnetoconductivity in the critical region confirms that thermal fluctuations exhibit a 3D anisotropic nature only in a narrow temperature region around T_c(H). This is consistent with the fact that in these samples the fluctuation effects in the Gaussian region above T_c may be described by the Lawrence-Doniach approach. Our results indicate that the anisotropy of these materials increases significantly with the doping level.

Ultrafast dynamics of fluctuations in high-temperature superconductors far from equilibrium

Despite extensive work on high-temperature superconductors, the critical behavior of an incipient condensate has so far been studied exclusively under equilibrium conditions. Here, we excite Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+δ) with a femtosecond laser pulse and monitor the subsequent nonequilibrium dynamics of the midinfrared conductivity. Our data allow us to discriminate temperature regimes where superconductivity is either coherent, fluctuating or vanishingly small. Above the transition temperature T(c), we make the striking observation that the relaxation to equilibrium exhibits power-law dynamics and scaling behavior, both for optimally and underdoped superconductors. Our findings can in part be modeled using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, and they provide strong indication of universality in systems far from equilibrium.

Large D-2 theory of superconducting fluctuations in a magnetic field and its application to iron pnictides

A Ginzburg-Landau approach to fluctuations of a layered superconductor in a magnetic field is used to show that the interlayer coupling can be incorporated within an interacting self-consistent theory of a single layer, in the limit of a large number of neighboring layers. The theory exhibits two phase transitions-a vortex liquid-to-solid transition is followed by a Bose-Einstein condensation into the Abrikosov lattice-illustrating the essential role of interlayer coupling. By using this theory, explicit expressions for magnetization, specific heat, and fluctuation conductivity are derived. We compare our results with recent experimental data on the iron-pnictide superconductors.

Comparison of the scaling analysis of mixed-state magnetization data with direct measurements of the upper critical field for YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-x)

By comparison of recent direct measurements of the temperature dependence of the upper critical field H(c2) of an YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-x) high-T(c) superconductor with the scaling analysis of magnetization data, collected in fields [Formula: see text], we demonstrate that the temperature dependence of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ is negligible. Another conclusion is that the normalized temperature dependence of H(c2) is independent of the orientation of the magnetic field with respect to the crystallographic axes of the sample. We also discuss the fact that isotropy of the temperature dependence of H(c2) straightforwardly follows from the Ginzburg-Landau theory if κ does not depend on the temperature.

Precision calculation of magnetization and specific heat of vortex liquids and solids in type-II superconductors

A new systematic calculation of magnetization and specific heat contributions of vortex liquids and solids is presented. We develop an optimized perturbation theory for the Ginzburg-Landau description of thermal fluctuations effects in the vortex liquids. The expansion is convergent in contrast to the conventional high temperature expansion which is asymptotic. In the solid phase we calculate the first two orders which are already quite accurate. The results are in good agreement with existing Monte Carlo simulations and experiments. Limitations of various nonperturbative and phenomenological approaches are noted. In particular, we show that there is no exact intersection point of the magnetization curves.