Far-infrared spectroscopy of magnetic-field-induced pairbreaking in superconducting thin films

ORAL

Abstract

A magnetic field will break the time-reversal symmetry of the superconducting condensate pairing, giving rise to a pair-breaking effect. This pairbreaking has been confirmed by our recent far-infrared transmission and reflection measurement of a superconducting NbTiN thin film in an in-plane magnetic field. The complex optical conductivity was extracted, and the optical gap was obtained from its real part. Comparison with the pair-breaking theory of Abrikosov and Gor'kov yields good quantitative agreement, confirming directly the theory's validity for the optical conductivity.

*Supported by the US DOE through contracts DE-FG02-02ER45984 at UF and DE-AC02-98CH10886 at the NSLS. Access to the high-field magnet is courtesy of J.J. Tu (CCNY).

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Authors

  • X. Xi

    • University of Florida

  • J. Hwang

    • Pusan National University

  • C. Martin

    • University of Florida

  • D.B. Tanner

    • University of Florida
    • Department of Physics, University of Florida

  • G.L. Carr

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Brookhaven National Lab