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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 101 » Issue 5
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 057001 (2008) [4 pages]

Effect of Pair Breaking on Mesoscopic Persistent Currents Well above the Superconducting Transition Temperature

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H. Bary-Soroker1,*, O. Entin-Wohlman2,3, and Y. Imry1
1Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
2Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
3Albert Einstein Minerva Center for Theoretical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Received 2 April 2008; published 28 July 2008

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We consider the mesoscopic normal persistent current (PC) in a very low-temperature superconductor with a bare transition temperature Tc0 much smaller than the Thouless energy Ec. We show that in a rather broad range of pair-breaking strength, Tc0≲ℏ/τs≲Ec, the transition temperature is renormalized to zero, but the PC is hardly affected. This may provide an explanation for the magnitude of the average PC’s in the noble metals, as well as a way to determine their Tc0’s.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.057001
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.057001
PACS:
74.78.Na, 73.23.Ra, 74.25.Ha, 74.40.+k

*hamutal.soroker@weizmann.ac.il

 
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