Superconducting critical fields of thin films of Sn, Ga, and Al: Effects of electron paramagnetism

Abstract

The effect of paramagnetism on the critical field of very thin films of aluminum and disordered tin and gallium has been experimentally investigated to determine the spin-orbit scattering time ${\tau }_{\mathrm{so}}$. Values of ${\tau }_{\mathrm{so}}$, so determined, are found to be in reasonable agreement with the scaling of the impurity scattering time ${\tau }_{\mathrm{Tr}}$ by a term proportional to fourth power of atomic number of the metal as predicted by Abrikosov and Gorkov.