Slope of $H_{c2}$ close to $T_c$ versus the size of the Cooper pairs: The role of disorder in Dynes superconductors

Abstract

The size of the Cooper pair $\xi_{\rm pair}$ is one of the basic characteristics of a superconductor, but it is not possible to measure it directly. It might be argued that $\xi_{\rm pair}$ can be determined from the value $\xi_{\rm slope}$ extracted from the measurement of the slope of $H_{c2}$ close to $T_c$. Taking into account both pair-conserving and pair-breaking scattering on impurities within the recently developed theory of Dynes superconductors, we perform an explicit calculation of $\xi_{\rm pair}$ and $\xi_{\rm slope}$. We show that the two quantities agree only in clean superconductors. In particular, when the pair-breaking disorder approaches the quantum critical point, $\xi_{\rm pair}$ stays finite, whereas $\xi_{\rm slope}$ diverges.