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Title: Brillouin-Wigner theory of mixed-valence rare-earth impurities in Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductors

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)

We present a Brillouin-Wigner-type theory for the mixed-valence rare-earth impurities in Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors. The impurity is described by a degenerate Anderson model with two configurations 4f/sup 0/ and 4f/sup 1/ in the infinite-correlation limit. Two important quantities characterizing the superconducting state, i.e., the reduced transition temperature T/sub c//T/sub c0/ and the reduced specific-heat jump ..delta..C/..delta..C/sub 0/, are calculated as functions of the impurity concentration x and the valence of the 4f/sup 1/ configuration n/sub f/. The T/sub c//T/sub c0/ versus x curves obtained display exponential shapes which become steeper quickly with larger n/sub f/. The ..delta..C/..delta..C/sub 0/ versus T/sub c//T/sub c0/ curves show upward deviation with respect to the BCS law of corresponding states in contrast to the case of magnetic impurities. The theory is also fitted to the data of dilute superconducting Th/sub 1-//sub x/Ce/sub x/ alloys with a comparison to a previous Hartree-Fock theory.

Research Organization:
Center for Theoretical Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
OSTI ID:
6141497
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Vol. 36:10
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English