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Anisotropic superconductivity of niobium based on its response to nonmagnetic disorder

Journal Article · · Phys.Rev.B
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Ames Lab; Iowa State U.
  2. Turin Polytechnic; INFN, Turin
  3. Rigetti Computing
  4. Northwestern U.
  5. Louisiana State U.; Northwestern U.
+ Show Author Affiliations

Niobium is one of the most studied superconductors, both theoretically and experimentally. It is tremendously important for applications, and it has the highest superconducting transition temperature, T c = 9.32  K, of all pure metals. In addition to power applications in alloys, pure niobium is used for sensitive magnetosensing, radio-frequency cavities, and, more recently, as circuit metallization layers in superconducting qubits. A detailed understanding of its electronic and superconducting structure, especially its normal and superconducting state anisotropies, is crucial for mitigating the loss of quantum coherence in such devices. Recently, a microscopic theory of the anisotropic properties of niobium with the disorder was put forward. To verify theoretical predictions, we studied the effect of disorder produced by 3.5 MeV proton irradiation of thin Nb films grown by the same team and using the same protocols as those used in transmon qubits. By measuring the superconducting transition temperature and upper critical fields, we show a clear suppression of T c by potential (nonmagnetic) scattering, which is directly related to the anisotropic order parameter. We obtain a very close quantitative agreement between the theory and the experiment.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1906079
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-22-880-SQMS-V; arXiv:2207.14395; oai:inspirehep.net:2128179
Journal Information:
Phys.Rev.B, Vol. 106, Issue 22
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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