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State Memory and Reentrance in a Paramagnetically Limited Superconductor

V. Yu. Butko, P. W. Adams, and E. I. Meletis
Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3725 – Published 1 November 1999
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Abstract

We report observations of a new quasistatic nonequilibrium phenomenon in the density of electronic states (DOS) of a superconductor. Tunneling measurements of the DOS of ultrathin Al films, at the spin paramagnetically limited parallel magnetic field transition, reveal a strongly hysteretic DOS spectrum. We show that the hysteresis can be characterized as a quasistatic state memory effect in which the state of a film (normal or superconducting) is determined by its state prior to entering the hysteretic region. We also show that state memory can lead to the onset of superconductivity with increasing temperature, i.e., reentrance.

  • Received 30 April 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.3725

©1999 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

V. Yu. Butko* and P. W. Adams

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

E. I. Meletis

  • Department of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering Program, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

  • *Also at the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute (PTI), Russian Academy of Sciences, Polytekhnicheskaya Stranitsa, 26, 194021, St.-Petersburg, Russia.

See Also

Warming Up to Superconductivity

Phys. Rev. Focus 4, 23 (1999)

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Issue

Vol. 83, Iss. 18 — 1 November 1999

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