Reviews of Modern Physics, volume 78, issue 2, pages 373-433

Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors

Alexander Balatsky 1
I VEKHTER 2
Jian-Xin Zhu 1
2
 
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
Publication typeJournal Article
Publication date2006-05-09
Quartile SCImago
Q1
Quartile WOS
Q1
Impact factor44.1
ISSN00346861, 15390756
General Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We review recent developments in our understanding of how impurities influence the electronic states in the bulk of superconductors. Our focus is on the quasi-localized states in the vicinity of impurity sites in conventional and unconventional superconductors and our goal is to provide a unified framework for their description. The non-magnetic impurity resonances in unconventional superconductors are directly related to the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states around magnetic impurities in conventional s-wave systems. We review the physics behind these states, including quantum phase transition between screened and unscreened impurity, and emphasize recent work on d-wave superconductors. The bound states are most spectacularly seen in scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements on high-$T_c$ cuprates, which we describe in detail. We also discuss very recent progress on the states coupled to impurity sites which have their own dynamics, and impurity resonances in the presence of an order competing with superconductivity. Last part of the review is devoted to influence of local deviations of the impurity concentration from its average value on the density of states in s-wave superconductors. We review how these fluctuations affect the density of states and show that s-wave superconductors are, strictly speaking, gapless in the presence of an arbitrarily small concentration of magnetic impurities.

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Balatsky A., VEKHTER I., Zhu J. Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors // Reviews of Modern Physics. 2006. Vol. 78. No. 2. pp. 373-433.
GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy
Balatsky A., VEKHTER I., Zhu J. Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors // Reviews of Modern Physics. 2006. Vol. 78. No. 2. pp. 373-433.
RIS |
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RIS Copy
TY - JOUR
DO - 10.1103/RevModPhys.78.373
UR - https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.78.373
TI - Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors
T2 - Reviews of Modern Physics
AU - Balatsky, Alexander
AU - VEKHTER, I
AU - Zhu, Jian-Xin
PY - 2006
DA - 2006/05/09
PB - American Physical Society (APS)
SP - 373-433
IS - 2
VL - 78
SN - 0034-6861
SN - 1539-0756
ER -
BibTex |
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BibTex Copy
@article{2006_Balatsky,
author = {Alexander Balatsky and I VEKHTER and Jian-Xin Zhu},
title = {Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors},
journal = {Reviews of Modern Physics},
year = {2006},
volume = {78},
publisher = {American Physical Society (APS)},
month = {may},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.78.373},
number = {2},
pages = {373--433},
doi = {10.1103/RevModPhys.78.373}
}
MLA
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MLA Copy
Balatsky, Alexander, et al. “Impurity-induced states in conventional and unconventional superconductors.” Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 78, no. 2, May. 2006, pp. 373-433. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.78.373.
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