Investigation of the superconducting energy gap in the compound LuNi$_{2}$B$_{2}$C by the method of point contact spectroscopy: two-gap approximation

TL;DR

This study uses point contact spectroscopy to analyze the two-gap superconducting energy structure of LuNi₂B₂C, revealing distinct gap values and temperature dependencies in different crystallographic directions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the applicability of the two-gap approximation to LuNi₂B₂C and estimates the temperature-dependent gaps using the generalized BTK model and Beloborodko equations.

Findings

Two-gap approximation fits the spectra across a wide temperature range.

Large and small gaps have different critical temperatures and magnitudes.

Directional differences observed in gap contributions and temperature behaviors.

Abstract

It is shown that the two-gap approximation is applicable for describing the $dV/dI(V)$ spectra of LuNi$_{2}$B$_{2}$C-Ag point contacts in a wide interval of temperatures. The values and the temperature dependences of the large and the small gaps in the $ab$ plane and in the $c$ direction were estimated using the generalized BTK model and the equations of Beloborodko. In the BCS extrapolation the critical temperature of the small gap is 10 $K$ in the $ab$ plane and 14.5 $K$ in the $c$ direction. The absolute values of the gaps are $\Delta_0^{ab}=2.16$ $meV$ and $\Delta_0^c=1.94$ $meV$. For the large gaps the critical temperature coincides with the bulk $T_c$, $T_c^{bulk}=16.8$ $K$, and their absolute values are very close, being about 3 $meV$ in both orientations. In the $c$ direction the contributions to the conductivity from the small and the large gaps remain practically identical up to $10 \div 11$ $K$. In the $ab$ plane the contribution from the small gap is much smaller and decreases rapidly as a temperature rises.