Essential Differences between $ab$ and $c$ Axis Tunneling and Zero Bias Conductance in the Cuprates

Abstract

The peculiarities in tunneling characteristics have been studied in the light of the controversy between s-wave and d-wave character of High $T_c$ superconductivity. We show that anisotropic s-wave gap has the same low voltage power law conductance and two peak structure in the density of states as d-wave superconductors. The asymmetric tunneling conductance and zero bias conductance for the c-axis tunneling is shown to occur because of finite band splitting coming from the interlayer hopping parameter.