Doping dependent vortex activation energy and pseudogap in Y123

TL;DR

This paper explores how the vortex activation energy in Y123 superconductors depends on doping levels and links it to the pseudogap temperature, revealing how these factors influence superconducting properties.

Contribution

It establishes a direct connection between the characteristic field controlling vortex activation energy and the pseudogap temperature in Y123, highlighting doping effects.

Findings

The characteristic field Ho correlates with the pseudogap temperature T*.

Ho varies strongly with in-plane hole content p.

The pseudogap energy scale influences the superconducting condensation energy.

Abstract

The temperature and magnetic field dependent activation energy, U(T, H), is one of the most important parameter in the field of applied superconductivity as it primarily determines both the crtical current density and the irreversibility field. Previously, we have determined the doping dependent U(T, H) from the analysis of field dependent resistive transitions in high-quality c-axis oriented crytalline thin films of Y123 (arXiv:1207.4312). In this short communication, we have showed a direct link between the characteristic field Ho that sets the magnitude of U(T, H) and the pseudogap temperature, T*. The strong dependence of Ho on the in-plane hole content, p, seems to follow from the p-dependent evolution of the pseudogap energy scale (T*, when expressed in temperature) which reduces the superconducting condensation energy as hole concentration decreases.