Observation of a superconducting gap in boron-doped diamond by laser-excited photoemission spectroscopy

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Jan 26;98(4):047003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.047003. Epub 2007 Jan 23.

Abstract

We investigate the temperature (T)-dependent low-energy electronic structure of a boron-doped diamond thin film using ultrahigh resolution laser-excited photoemission spectroscopy. We observe a clear shift of the leading edge below T=11 K, indicative of a superconducting gap opening (Delta approximately 0.78 meV at T=4.5 K). The gap feature is significantly broad and a well-defined quasiparticle peak is lacking even at the lowest temperature of measurement (=4.5 K). We discuss our results in terms of disorder effects on the normal state transport and superconductivity in this system.