Accurate analytic expression for the surface tension of a type-I superconductor

C. J. Boulter; J. O. Indekeu

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.54.12407

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Accurate analytic expression for the surface tension of a type-I superconductor

C. J. Boulter, J. O. Indekeu

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.54.12407 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

Within Ginzburg-Landau theory we calculate the surface tension of the superconducting/normal interface of a type-I superconductor. For the reduced surface tension ΓSC,N we derive the low-κ expansion ΓSC,N=2√2 2/3-1.02817√κ-0.13307κ√κ+O(κ2√κ), where κ is the Ginzburg-Landau parameter. The coefficient of √κ agrees with an earlier calculation [T. M. Mishonov, J. Phys. (France) 51, 447 (1990)], but disagrees with a more recent estimate [J. C. Osborn and A. T. Dorsey, Phys. Rev. B 50, 15 961 (1994)]. The coefficient of κ√κ differs only slightly from Mishonov’s guess based on simple interpolation. We show that the expansion truncated at order κ√κ is already so accurate in the entire type-I regime 0⩽κ⩽1/√2 that derivation of higher-order terms is unnecessary. © 1996 The American Physical Society.