Distribution of the superconducting gap in an YNi2B2C film studied by point contact spectroscopy
Abstract
The differential resistances Rd=dV/dI(V) of point contacts between a normal metal and a c axis oriented YNi2B2C film (Tc = 15.2K) in the superconducting (SC) state have been investigated. Rd(V) contains clear "gap" features connected with processes of Andreev reflection at the boundary between normal metal and superconductor that allow the determination of the SC gap and its temperature and magnetic field dependence. A distribution of from min≈ 1.5 meV to max≈ 2.4 meV is revealed; however the critical temperature Tc in all cases corresponded to that of the film. The value 2max/kBTc≈3.66 is close to the BCS value of 3.52, and the temperature dependence (T) is BCS-like, irrespective of the actual value. It is supposed that the distribution of can be attributed to a gap anisotropy or to a multiband nature of the SC state in YNi2B2C, rather than to the presence of nodes in the gap.
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