Title: Evidence from tunneling spectroscopy for a quasi-one-dimensional origin of superconductivity in Sr2RuO4

Tunneling in CaC{sub 6} crystals reproducibly reveals superconducting gaps {Delta} of 2.3 {+-} 0.2 meV that are {approx}40% larger than reported earlier. In an isotropic s-wave scenario, that puts CaC{sub 6} into the class of very strongly coupled superconductors, since 2{Delta}/kT{sub c} {approx} 4.6, implying that soft Ca phonons are primarily involved in the superconductivity. This conclusion explains the relatively large Ca isotope effect found recently for CaC{sub 6}, but it could also signal a strong anisotropy in the electron-phonon interaction.

Tunneling in CaC{sub 6} crystals reproducibly reveals superconducting gaps {Delta} of 2.3 {+-} 0.2 meV that are {approx}40% larger than reported earlier. In an isotropic s-wave scenario, that puts CaC{sub 6} into the class of very strongly coupled superconductors, since 2{Delta}/kT{sub c}-4.6, implying that soft Ca phonons are primarily involved in the superconductivity. This conclusion explains the relatively large Ca isotope effect found recently for CaC{sub 6}, but it could also signal a strong anisotropy in the electron-phonon interaction.

We show that for a one-dimensional electron gas with strong repulsive electron-electron interactions and a weak retarded attractive interaction, superconducting fluctuations can occur at high temperatures. The dominant driving force for these fluctuations is the repulsive interactionsexclamation Although the results are for a one-dimensional model, a strong analogy exists between our results and the short-ranged resonating--valence-bond picture of superconductivity.

The presence of defects in graphene have for a long time been recognized as a bottleneck for its utilization in electronic and mechanical devices. We recently showed that micro four-point probes may be used to evaluate if a graphene film is truly 2D or if defects in proximity of the probe will lead to a non-uniform current flow characteristic of lower dimensionality. In this work, simulations based on a finite element method together with a Monte Carlo approach are used to establish the transition from 2D to quasi-1D current transport, when applying a micro four-point probe to measure on 2Dmore » conductors with an increasing amount of line-shaped defects. Clear 2D and 1D signatures are observed at low and high defect densities, respectively, and current density plots reveal the presence of current channels or branches in defect configurations yielding 1D current transport. A strong correlation is found between the density filling factor and the simulation yield, the fraction of cases with 1D transport and the mean sheet conductance. The upper transition limit is shown to agree with the percolation threshold for sticks. Finally, the conductance of a square sample evaluated with macroscopic edge contacts is compared to the micro four-point probe conductance measurements and we find that the micro four-point probe tends to measure a slightly higher conductance in samples containing defects.« less

Detailed structure in the quasiparticle tunneling has been observed in La-Sr-Cu-O superconductive tunneling junctions using the break-junction technique. Variability in the energy gap and associated structure in the current-voltage curves is observed indicating significant inhomogeneity in the superconducting properties. Large energy gaps (7.0 meV) and deep structure in the conductance derivatives are evidence for a strong-coupling mechanism.