Strongly Anisotropic s-Wave Gaps in Exotic Superconductors

Abstract

The exotic superconductors, defined as those which follow the phenomenological trend of Uemura (Tc approximately proportional to penetration depth^-2), presently constitute the most broad and general class of superconductors which can reasonably be considered "similar to the high-Tc cuprates". It is therefore of much interest to determine the forms of their pairing gap functions. We examine evidence for the gap forms in non-cuprate exotics, and demonstrate some general features. The cubic materials often have highly anisotropic gaps. The planar materials tend to have even stronger gap anisotropy, to the extent that they often have gap nodes, but nevertheless they usually have an s-wave-like gap symmetry. There is good evidence for the latter even in the controversial cases of planar organics and nickel borocarbides. Exceptions to these generalizations are also pointed out and discussed.