c-axis infrared conductivity of a dx2t−y2-wave superconductor with impurity and spin-fluctuation scattering

Abstract

Results of a calculation of the c-axis infrared conductivity σc for a dx2−y2-wave superconductor, including both elastic impurity and inelastic spin-fluctuation scattering are presented and compared with the ab-plane conductivity σab in the same model. In this model, the interlayer c-axis coupling is taken to be weak and diffusive. While in clean systems, inelastic scattering leads to a peak at ω=4Δ0 in σab for T<Tc, it has little effect on the corresponding σc, which exhibits structure only at ω≃2Δ0 and is directly related to the single-particle density of states N(ω). The c-axis penetration depth λc in the same model is predicted to vary as T3 at low temperatures in clean samples. We discuss recent optical experiments on the cuprates and compare with these predictions.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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