Unusual effects of anisotropy on the specific heat of ceramic and single crystal MgB2

Abstract

The two-gap structure in the superconducting state of MgB_2 gives rise to unusual thermodynamic properties which depart markedly from the isotropic single-band BCS model, both in their temperature- and field dependence. We report and discuss measurements of the specific heat up to 16 T on ceramic, and up to 14 T on single crystal samples, which demonstrate these effects in the bulk. The behavior in zero field is described in terms of two characteristic temperatures, a crossover temperature Tc_pi ~ 13 K, and a critical temperature Tc = Tc_sigma ~ 38 K, whereas the mixed-state specific heat requires three characteristic fields, an isotropic crossover field Hc2_pi ~ 0.35 T, and an anisotropic upper critical field with extreme values Hc2_sigma_c ~ 3.5 T and Hc2_sigma_ab ~ 19 T, where the indexes πand σrefer to the 3D and 2D sheets of the Fermi surface. Irradiation-induced interband scattering tends to move the gaps toward a common value, and increases the upper critical field up to ~ 28 T when Tc = 30 K.