Comment on 'Temperature range of superconducting fluctuations above $T_c$ in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ single crystals'

TL;DR

This paper critiques previous measurements of superconducting fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O7−δ, arguing that a 16 T magnetic field does not fully suppress fluctuations above Tc and that prior results actually measure finite-field effects rather than zero-field fluctuations.

Contribution

It clarifies the interpretation of microwave absorption measurements, showing they reflect finite-field fluctuation magnetoconductivity, not zero-field paraconductivity, and revises the estimated onset temperature of fluctuations.

Findings

16 T magnetic field does not quench all superconducting fluctuations above Tc.

Previous measurements actually detect finite-field effects, not zero-field fluctuations.

The true onset of fluctuations occurs at temperatures well above the previously proposed T'.

Abstract

Contrary to the starting assumption of Grbi\'c et al. (Phys. Rev. B 83, 144508 (2011)), here we will first argue that a 16 T magnetic field is not enough to quench all superconducting fluctuations above Tc in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$. We then conclude that through their measurements of microwave absorption these authors actually determine the ac-fluctuation magnetoconductivity at 16 T, instead of the zero-field ac paraconductivity as they pretend. So, the temperature proposed by Grbi\'c et al. for the onset of the superconducting fluctuations, T', will correspond to the one at which the finite-field effects at 16 T become measurable in their experiments, and the actual fluctuations onset will be located well above T'. These conclusions, which also concern influential recent publications on that issue, are then confirmed by analyzing some of the Grbi\'c et al., data on the grounds of the Gaussian Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach for the finite-field (or Prange) fluctuation regime.