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Transport in Ultraclean YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$: neither Unitary nor Born Impurity Scattering

R. W. Hill·Christian Lupien·M. Sutherland·Etienne Boaknin·D. G. Hawthorn·Cyril Proust·F. Ronning·Louis Taillefer·Ruixing Liang·D. A. Bonn·W. N. Hardy
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Abstract

The thermal conductivity of ultraclean YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ was measured at very low temperature in magnetic fields up to 13 T. The temperature and field dependence of the electronic heat conductivity show that two widespread assumptions of transport theory applied to unconventional superconductors fail for clean cuprates: impurity scattering cannot be treated in the usual unitary limit (nor indeed in the Born limit), and scattering of quasiparticles off vortices cannot be neglected. Our study also sheds light on the long-standing puzzle of a sudden onset of a "plateau" in the thermal conductivity of Bi-2212 versus field.

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R. W. Hill, Christian Lupien, M. Sutherland, Etienne Boaknin, D. G. Hawthorn, Cyril Proust, F. Ronning, Louis Taillefer, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy. 2003-07-15. Transport in Ultraclean YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$: neither Unitary nor Born Impurity Scattering. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.92.027001

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