Impurity scattering effect on the specific heat jump in anisotropic superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nonmagnetic impurities affect the specific heat jump at the superconducting transition in anisotropic superconductors, highlighting differences between d-wave and (d+s)-wave states and proposing a method to detect s-wave admixture.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of impurity effects on the specific heat jump, offering a potential experimental test for s-wave components in cuprate superconductors.

Findings

Impurity concentration influences the specific heat jump differently for d-wave and (d+s)-wave states.

The impurity dependence can serve as a test for s-wave admixture in cuprates.

The study uses a weak-coupling mean field approximation to derive results.

Abstract

The specific heat jump at a normal-superconducting phase transition in an anisotropic superconductor with nonmagnetic impurities is calculated within a weak-coupling mean field approximation. It is shown that its dependence on the impurity concentration is remarkably different for d-wave and (d+s)-wave states. This effect may be used as a test for the presence of an s-wave admixture in the cuprates.