Observation of enhanced superconductivity in the vicinity of Ar-induced nano-cavities in Pb(111)

Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 22;7(1):12177. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12505-1.

Abstract

Local variations of superconductivity have been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy around nano-cavities formed by Ar ions embedded in Pb(111). Various factors including the density of states at Fermi energy, electron-phonon couplings, and quantum well states, which are known to affect superconductivity, have been examined. We show that the superconductivity is enhanced near the nano-cavities and propose that quantum effects such as quantum confinement, proximity effect and multi-gap effect are possibly involved in determining the superconducting gap of this system. These results have important implications for the characterization and understanding of superconductivity at a nanometer scale.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't