Metal-Superconductor Transition at Zero Temperature: A Case of Unusual Scaling

Abstract

An effective field theory is derived for the normal metal-to-superconductor quantum phase transition at T=0. The critical behavior is determined exactly for all dimensions d>2. Although the critical exponents β and ν do not exist, the usual scaling relations, properly reinterpreted, still hold. A complete scaling description of the transition is given, and the physics underlying the unusual critical behavior is discussed. Quenched disorder leads to anomalously strong fluctuations in Tc which are shown to explain the experimentally observed broadening of the transition in low- Tc thin films.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Similar papers