Single-Gap Superconductivity and Dome of Superfluid Density in Nb-Doped SrTiO_{3}

Phys Rev Lett. 2018 Jun 8;120(23):237002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.237002.

Abstract

SrTiO_{3} exhibits a superconducting dome upon doping with Nb, with a maximum critical temperature T_{c}≈0.4 K. Using microwave stripline resonators at frequencies from 2 to 23 GHz and temperatures down to 0.02 K, we probe the low-energy optical response of superconducting SrTiO_{3} with a charge carrier concentration from 0.3 to 2.2×10^{20} cm^{-3}, covering the majority of the superconducting dome. We find single-gap electrodynamics even though several electronic bands are superconducting. This is explained by a single energy gap 2Δ due to gap homogenization over the Fermi surface consistent with the low level of defect scattering in Nb-doped SrTiO_{3}. Furthermore, we determine T_{c}, 2Δ, and the superfluid density as a function of charge carrier concentration, and all three quantities exhibit the characteristic dome shape.