Point-contact spectroscopy of tantalum, molybdenum, and tungsten

Abstract

Electron-phonon interaction in superconducting transition metals (Ta, Mo, W) is investigated by the method of point-contact spectroscopy. The spectra obtained are compared with model densities of the phonon states $F(\omega)$ computed from experiments on neutron scattering, and with the tunnel electron-phonon interaction function $g(\omega)$ for Ta. Close agreement between the appropriate spectra is obtained for Ta and Mo, while a significant discrepancy is observed for W, which is the appearance of a blurred maximum instead of the two expected separated peaks on the point-contact spectra. The absolute intensities of a number of point-contact spectra $G(eV)$ and electron-phonon coupling constants $\lambda$ are calculated. For all three metals the values obtained turned out to be considerably below those expected. The possible reasons for this disagreement are discussed.