"Giant" enhancement of the upper critical field and fluctuations above the bulk Tc in superconducting ultrathin lead nanowire arrays

We have produced ultrathin lead (Pb) nanowires in the 6 nm pores of SBA-15 mesoporous silica substrates by chemical vapor deposition. The nanowires form regular and dense arrays. We demonstrate that bulk Pb (a type-I superconductor below Tc = 7.2 K with a critical field of 800 Oe) can be tailored by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS nano 2013-05, Vol.7 (5), p.4187-4193
Main Authors: He, Mingquan, Wong, Chi Ho, Tse, Pok Lam, Zheng, Yuan, Zhang, Haijing, Lam, Frank L Y, Sheng, Ping, Hu, Xijun, Lortz, Rolf
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electric Conductivity
Lead - chemistry
Magnetic Phenomena
Nanotechnology - instrumentation
Nanowires
Temperature
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Summary:We have produced ultrathin lead (Pb) nanowires in the 6 nm pores of SBA-15 mesoporous silica substrates by chemical vapor deposition. The nanowires form regular and dense arrays. We demonstrate that bulk Pb (a type-I superconductor below Tc = 7.2 K with a critical field of 800 Oe) can be tailored by nanostructuring to become a type-II superconductor with an upper critical field (Hc2) exceeding 15 T and signs of Cooper pairing 3-4 K above the bulk Tc. The material undergoes a crossover from a one-dimensional fluctuating superconducting state at high temperatures to three-dimensional long-range-ordered superconductivity in the low-temperature regime. We show with our data in an impressive way that superconductivity in elemental metals can be greatly enhanced by nanostructuring.
ISSN:1936-086X
DOI:10.1021/nn400604v