Dielectric resonator method for determining gap symmetry of superconductors through anisotropic nonlinear Meissner effect

Seokjin Bae; Yuewen Tan; Alexander P Zhuravel; Lingchao Zhang; Shengwei Zeng; Yong Liu; Thomas A Lograsso; Ariando; T Venkatesan; Steven M Anlage

doi:10.1063/1.5090130

Dielectric resonator method for determining gap symmetry of superconductors through anisotropic nonlinear Meissner effect

Rev Sci Instrum. 2019 Apr;90(4):043901. doi: 10.1063/1.5090130.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-4111, USA.
² B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, UA-61103 Kharkov, Ukraine.
³ Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117551.
⁴ Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.

PMID: 31043012
DOI: 10.1063/1.5090130

Abstract

We present a new measurement method which can be used to image the gap nodal structure of superconductors whose pairing symmetry is under debate. This technique utilizes a high quality factor microwave resonance involving the sample of interest. While supporting a circularly symmetric standing wave current pattern, the sample is perturbed by a scanned laser beam, creating a photoresponse that was previously shown to reveal the superconducting gap anisotropy. Simulation and the measurement of the photoresponse of an unpatterned Nb film show less than 8% anisotropy, as expected for a superconductor with a nearly isotropic energy gap along with expected systematic uncertainty. On the other hand, measurement of a YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ thin film shows a clear 4-fold symmetric image with ∼12.5% anisotropy, indicating the well-known 4-fold symmetric d_x²-y² gap nodal structure in the ab-plane. The deduced gap nodal structure can be further cross-checked by low temperature surface impedance data, which are simultaneously measured. The important advantage of the presented method over the previous spiral resonator method is that it does not require a complicated lithographic patterning process which limits one from testing various kinds of materials due to photoresponse arising from patterning defects. This advantage of the presented technique, and the ability to measure unpatterned samples such as planar thin films and single crystals, enables one to survey the pairing symmetry of a wide variety of unconventional superconductors.