Spectroscopy of the superconducting gap in individual nanometer-scale aluminum particles

被引:327
作者
Black, CT [1 ]
Ralph, DC [1 ]
Tinkham, M [1 ]
机构
[1] HARVARD UNIV, DIV APPL SCI, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.688
中图分类号
O4 [物理学];
学科分类号
0702 ;
摘要
We use electron tunneling to measure electronic energy levels in individual nm-scale Al particles. For sufficiently large particles (greater than or equal to 5 nm in radius), the eigenstate energies reveal the existence of a superconducting excitation gap Omega which is driven continuously to zero by an applied magnetic field. The presence of Omega increases the voltage threshold for tunneling in a particle with an even number of electrons in its ground state, but decreases the tunneling threshold for an odd-electron particle. We discuss the roles of spin and orbital pair breaking in the magnetic-field transition.
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页码:688 / 691
页数:4
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