Low-temperature thermal conductivity of the amorphous superconductor iron-nickel-zirconium.

摘要

Thermal conductivity is a powerful tool to probe the phonon and electron exitations in a solid, especially in superconductors were one can basically tune the respective electronic and phononic contributions by applying a magnetic field below Tc.; After a short review on the concepts of superconductivity, thermal conductivity and amorphous matter, we present a study of the thermal conductivity of an exotic material, the amorphous metallic superconductor Fe0.5Ni 0.5Zr2. The results indicate an unexpected dominant electonic contribution to the thermal conductivity across the superconducting transition, in accordance with an inhomogeneous sample composed of a bulk normal phase with inhomogeneous superconducting phases.