Abstract
RECENT discussions of the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity have focused on the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter (the wavefunction of the superconducting state) as a means of constraining the nature of the interaction that forms the Cooper pairs1,2. There have been many attempts to measure the symmetry of this parameter in the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7 - δ (refs 3–10), but they have not yielded consistent results. Here we show that half-integer flux quantization in superconducting rings with three grain-boundary Josephson junctions, which formed the basis of an earlier, less conclusive symmetry test3, can be used to place firm constraints on the pairing symmetry. For the case of YBa2Cu3O7 - δ, we find that the sign of the order parameter is clearly direction dependent (consistent with a dx2-y2 symmetry) and that the contribution from any out-of-phase isotropic component is less than about 3%.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Levi, B. G. ‘Physics Today’ May 17–20 (1993).
Emery, V. J. Nature 370, 598–598 (1994).
Tsuei, C. C. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 593–596 (1994).
Hardy, W. N., Bonn D. A., Morgan, D. C., Liang, R. & Zhang, K. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3999–4002 (1993).
Bulut, N. & Scalapino, D. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 706–709 (1992).
Wollman, D. A., van Harlingen, D. J., Lee, W. C., Ginsberg, D. M. & Leggett, A. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2134–2137 (1993).
Chaudhari, P. & Lin, S-Y. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1084–1087 (1994).
Sun, A. G., Gajewski, D. A., Maple, M. B. & Dynes, R. C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2267–2270 (1994).
Brawner, D. A. & Ott, H. R. Phys. Rev. B50, 6530–6533 (1994).
Matnai, A. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted).
Scalapino, D. J. Phys. Rep. (in the press).
Geshkenbein, V. B., Larkin, A. I. & Barone, A. Phys. Rev. B36, 235–238 (1987).
Sigrist, M. & Rice, T. M. J. phys. Soc. Japan 61, 4283–4286 (1992).
Bulaevski, L. N., Kuzii, V. V. & Sobyanin, A. A. JETP Lett. 25, 290–294 (1977).
Spivak, B. I. & Kivelson, S. Phys. Rev. B43, 3740–3743 (1991).
Klemm, R. A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1871 (1994).
Vu, L. N., Wistrom, M. S. & van Harlingen, D. J. Appl. Phys. Lett. 63, 1693–1695 (1993).
Black, R. C. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 2128–2130 (1993).
Kirtley, J. R. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. (submitted).
Dimos, D., Chaudhari, P., Mannhart, J. & LeGoues, F. K. Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 219–222 (1988).
Wheatley, J. & Xiang, T. Solid St. Commun. 88, 593–595 (1993).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kirtley, J., Tsuei, C., Sun, J. et al. Symmetry of the order parameter in the high-Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3O7- δ. Nature 373, 225–228 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/373225a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/373225a0
This article is cited by
-
Magnetometry of neurons using a superconducting qubit
Communications Physics (2023)
-
Superconducting quantum interference at the atomic scale
Nature Physics (2022)
-
Energy recovery linac based fully coherent light source
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Reveal the nematic topological superconductivity from the anisotropic unconventional Josephson effect: Theory and application to doped Bi2Se3
Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy (2021)
-
Investigations on the g Factors for the Tetragonal and Orthorhombic Cu2+ Centers in YBa2Cu3O7–δ
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2020)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
