Artificially Layered Superconductors

Abstract

The study of Artificially Layered Superconductors (ALS) started more than 20 years ago with the search for unusual and/or high temperature superconductivity in a variety of metal-semiconducting layers. Renewed interest was motivated by the advent of novel preparation techniques that allow control of layer thicknesses close to interatomic distances. In this way layered superconductors can be used as model systems to study a variety of physical phenomena, prepare structures with improved properties and discover novel metastable phases which do not exist in nature. Examples of these studies include: a diversity of dimensional transitions, interaction between superconductivity and magnetism, interaction between superconductivity and electron localization, enhancements of critical fields and critical currents, and the study of incommensurate systems. Recent developments in high temperature ceramic superconductors further increase the importance of studies of Artificially Layered Superconductors. The newly discovered ceramic superconductors are structurally layered and therefore many of their properties will also be determined by this structure. Because of this, particularly in the search for the mechanism of superconductivity, it is important to understand which properties are a consequence of the layered nature of the material and which are due to the presence of some unusual, yet undetermined physical phenomena. What makes Artificially Layered Superconductors especially attractive for investigation? The main reason rests on the fact that the characteristic lengths which determine the superconducting properties, i.e., the coherence length and penetration depth, are quite long in conventional low temperature superconductors.