Perturbations on the superconducting state of metallic nanoparticles: influence of geometry and impurities

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the shape and impurities in metallic nanoparticles affect their superconducting properties, revealing that geometry causes significant fluctuations while impurities serve as a gentler probe of pairing correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a study of the combined effects of particle shape and impurities on superconducting condensation energy in finite-size systems.

Findings

Shape induces strong fluctuations in condensation energy.

Impurities provide a more subtle influence on pairing correlations.

Geometry and impurities differently affect superconducting properties.

Abstract

The pair condensation energy of a finite-size superconducting particle is studied as a function of two control parameters. The first control parameter is the shape of the particle, and the second parameter is a position-dependent impurity introduced in the particle. Whereas the former parameter is known to induce strong fluctuations in the condensation energy, the latter control parameter is found to be a more gentle probe of the pairing correlations.