Dramatic increase of the onset critical temperature and critical field of elemental Sn in the form of thin nanowires

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that thin nanowires of elemental Sn exhibit significantly increased critical temperature and magnetic field, with enhanced superconducting properties due to surface effects and Josephson coupling.

Contribution

It reveals that nanowire morphology dramatically enhances Sn's superconducting critical parameters, surpassing bulk limitations through surface and network effects.

Findings

Critical temperature increased to 5.5K from 3.7K

Critical magnetic field enhanced by about two orders of magnitude

Surface and Josephson coupling stabilize 3D superconductivity

Abstract

Sn is a well-known classical superconductor on the border between type I and type II with critical temperature of 3.722K and critical field of 0.031T. We show by means of specific heat and electric magneto-transport data that its critical parameters can be dramatically increased if it is brought in the form of loosely bound bundles of thin nanowires. The specific heat displays a pronounced double phase transition at 3.7K and 5.5K, which we attribute to the inner 'bulk' contribution of the nanowires and to the surface contribution, respectively. The latter is visible only because of the large volume fraction of the surface layer in relation to their bulk inner volume. The upper transition coincides with the onset of the resistive transition, while zero resistance is gradually approached below the lower transition. The large coherence length of 230nm at 0K likely actuates a Josephson coupling between adjacent neighboring nanowires and thus suppresses the effect of 1D phase fluctuations along the nanowires, and stabilizes 3D phase coherence throughout the entire network with zero resistance. A magnetic field of more than 3T is required to restore the normal state, which means that the critical field is enhanced by about two orders of magnitude with respect to Sn in its bulk form.