Abstract
We have examined the magnetic superconducting transition of ensembles of very small insulated aluminum particles. These particles can be viewed as zero-dimensional superconductors in the sense that all dimensions are less than the superconducting coherence length ξ. The purpose of these measurements was to investigate the effect of thermodynamic fluctuations on the superconducting transition. The experiment was motivated by the prediction that the magnitude of the effect of such fluctuations relative to the mean-field transition (without fluctuations) would be very large. Also, the width of the true critical region as specified by Ginzburg,1 where the mean-field theory should no longer be valid, should become experimentally accessible in sufficiently small particles. This region has hitherto never been accessible in a superconducting system.
Research supported by NSF, and by ARPA through Cornell Materials Science Center.
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Buhrman, R.A., Halperin, W.P., Webb, W.W. (1974). Thermodynamic Fluctuations in “Zero-Dimensional” Superconductors. In: Timmerhaus, K.D., O’Sullivan, W.J., Hammel, E.F. (eds) Low Temperature Physics-LT 13. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2688-5_138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2688-5_138
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