Anisotropic criteria for the type of superconductivity

V. G. Kogan; R. Prozorov

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.90.054516

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Anisotropic criteria for the type of superconductivity

V. G. Kogan, R. Prozorov

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.90.054516 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

The classical criterion for classification of superconductors as type I or type II based on the isotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory is generalized to arbitrary temperatures for materials with anisotropic Fermi surfaces and order parameters. We argue that the relevant quantity for this classification is the ratio of the upper and thermodynamic critical fields Hc2/Hc, rather than the traditional ratio of the penetration depth and the coherence length λ/ξ. Even in the isotropic case, Hc2/Hc coincides with 2λ/ξ only at the critical temperature Tc and they differ as T decreases, the long-known fact. Anisotropies of Fermi surfaces and order parameters may amplify this difference and render false the criterion based on the value of κ=λ/ξ.