Infrared Conductivity in Layered $d$-wave Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper calculates the infrared conductivity in layered d-wave superconductors, highlighting how impurities significantly influence transport properties and could indicate d-wave pairing symmetry.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating impurity effects into the infrared conductivity calculations for layered d-wave superconductors.

Findings

Impurities drastically affect in-plane and c-axis conductivity.

Resonant impurities serve as signatures for d-wave pairing.

Theoretical predictions align with experimental observations.

Abstract

We calculate the infrared conductivity of a stack of coupled, two-dimensional superconducting planes within the Fermi liquid theory of superconductivity. We include the effects of random scattering processes and show that the presence of even a small concentration of resonant impurities, in a $d$-wave superconductor, has an important effect on both the in-plane and $c$-axis transport properties, which could serve as signatures for $d$-wave pairing.