Impurities and Conductivity in a D-wave Superconductor

Abstract

Impurity scattering in the unitary limit produces low energy quasiparticles with anisotropic spectrum in a two-dimensional $d$-wave superconductor. We describe a new {\em quasi-one-dimensional } limit of the quasiparticle scattering, which might occur in a superconductor with short coherence length and with {\em finite} impurity potential range. The dc conductivity in a $d$-wave superconductor is predicted to be proportional to the normal state scattering rate and is impurity-{\em dependent}. We show that {\em quasi-one-dimensional } regime might occur in high-$T_c$ superconductors with Zn impurities at low temp\ eratures $T\lesssim 10$~K