Broadening of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless superconducting transition by inhomogeneity and finite-size effects

L. Benfatto, C. Castellani, and T. Giamarchi
Phys. Rev. B 80, 214506 – Published 7 December 2009

Abstract

We discuss the crucial role played by finite-size effects and inhomogeneity on the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in two-dimensional superconductors. In particular, we focus on the temperature dependence of the resistivity, that is dominated by superconducting fluctuations above the BKT transition temperature TBKT and by inhomogeneity below it. By means of a renormalization-group approach we establish a direct correspondence between the parameter values used to describe the BKT fluctuation regime and the distance between TBKT and the mean-field Ginzburg-Landau transition temperature. Below TBKT a resistive tail arises due to finite-size effects and inhomogeneity, that reflects also on the temperature dependence of the superfluid density. We apply our results to recent experimental data in superconducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, and we extract several informations on the microscopic properties of the system from our BKT fitting parameters. Finally, we compare our approach to recent data analysis presented in the literature, where the physical meaning of the parameter values in the BKT formulas has been often overlooked.

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  • Received 7 September 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.214506

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

L. Benfatto1,2, C. Castellani2, and T. Giamarchi3

  • 1Centro Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi,” via Panisperna 89/A, 00184 Rome, Italy
  • 2CNR-SMC-INFM and Department of Physics, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • 3DPMC, Université de Genève, Quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 80, Iss. 21 — 1 December 2009

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