Specific heat of the Ca-intercalated graphite superconductor CaC6

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Jun 2;96(21):217002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.217002. Epub 2006 Jun 2.

Abstract

The superconducting state of Ca-intercalated graphite CaC6 has been investigated by specific heat measurements. The characteristic anomaly at the superconducting transition (Tc = 11.4 K) indicates clearly the bulk nature of the superconductivity. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the electronic specific heat are consistent with a fully gapped superconducting order parameter. The estimated electron-phonon coupling constant is lambda = 0.70 +/- 0.04, suggesting that the relatively high Tc of CaC6 can be explained within the intermediate coupling BCS approach.