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Superconductivity of Bi Confined in an Opal Host

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Abstract

Superconductivity is observed in a composite of rhombohedral crystalline bismuth nanoparticles imbedded in an insulating porous opal host via electrical transport and AC magnetic susceptibility. The onset of superconductivity in this system occurs in two steps, with upper transition temperature T c,U =4.1 K and lower transition temperature of T c,L =0.7 K, which we attribute to the granular nature of the composite. The transition at T c,U is observed to split into two transitions with the application of a magnetic field, and these have upper critical fields extrapolated to T=0 K of H c2,1(0)=0.7 T and H c2,2(0)=1.0 T, corresponding to coherence lengths of ξ 1(0)=21 nm and ξ 2(0)=18 nm, respectively. We suggest that because of the lack of bulk-like states in the Bi nanoparticles due to confinement effects, superconductivity originates from surface states arising from Rashba spin-orbit scattering at the interface.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. A. Zakhidov for generously providing the sample studied. We also acknowledge technical assistance provided by Mr. Tom Hogan. This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant REU DMR-0649169 (MDN). T.E.H. acknowledges support the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF-DMR-0839955 and by the U.S. Army Research Office Materials Science Division under Grant No. W911NF-09-1-05-29.

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Author notes

  1. M. D. Nieskoski

    Present address: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    R. C. Johnson, S. M. Disseler & M. J. Graf

  2. Department of Physics, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, 06824, USA

    M. D. Nieskoski

  3. Howard University, Washington, DC, 20059, USA

    T. E. Huber

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  1. R. C. Johnson
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  2. M. D. Nieskoski
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  3. S. M. Disseler
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Correspondence to M. J. Graf.

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Johnson, R.C., Nieskoski, M.D., Disseler, S.M. et al. Superconductivity of Bi Confined in an Opal Host. J Low Temp Phys 170, 205–215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0768-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0768-3

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