Inhomogeneous
s-wave superconductivity is studied in the two-dimensional, square lattice attractive Hubbard Hamiltonian using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) mean field approximation. We find that at weak coupling, and for densities mainly below half-filling, an inhomogeneous interaction in which the on-site interaction
Ui takes on two values,
Ui=0,2U results in a larger zero temperature pairing amplitude, and that the superconducting
Tc can also be significantly increased, relative to a uniform system with
Ui=U on all sites. These effects are observed for stripe, checkerboard, and even random patterns of the attractive centers, suggesting that the pattern of inhomogeneity is unimportant. Monte Carlo calculations which reintroduce some of the fluctuations neglected within the BdG approach see the same effect, both for the attractive Hubbard model and a Hamiltonian with
d-wave pairing symmetry.
The effects of quantum confinement on the superconducting ground state are studied within the Bogoliubov–de Gennes (BdG) formalism and an attractive Hubbard model. We consider a periodic arrangement of two-dimensional superconducting grains composed by N × N atoms surrounded by insulating, metallic or superconducting stripes with a thickness of s atoms, leading to 2(N + s)2 coupled self-consistent BdG equations for a supercell of (N + s) × (N + s) atoms. These equations determine the spatial variation of superconducting gap as functions of temperature, electron–electron interaction, and hopping integrals analyzing three types of boundary stripes. The results show a clear enhancement of the superconducting gap and critical temperature induced by the electron confinement in the grain, being larger for the insulating boundary case. Finally, the numerical solutions of BdG equations are compared with those obtained by applying the BCS theory to each grain site.
We study
s-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional square-lattice attractive Hubbard Hamiltonian for various inhomogeneous patterns of interacting sites. Using the Bogoliubov--de Gennes mean-field approximation, we obtain the phase diagram for inhomogeneous patterns in which the on-site attractive interaction
Ui between the electrons takes on two values
Ui=0 and $\ensuremath{-}U∕(1\ensuremath{-}f)$ (with
f the concentration of noninteracting sites) as a function of average electron occupation per site,
n, and study the evolution of the phase diagram as
f varies. In certain regions of the phase diagram, inhomogeneity results in a larger zero-temperature average pairing amplitude (order parameter) and also a higher superconducting critical temperature
Tc, relative to a uniform system with the same mean interaction strength (${U}_{i}=\ensuremath{-}U$ on all sites). These effects are observed for stripes, checkerboard, and even random patterns of the attractive centers, suggesting that the pattern of inhomogeneity is unimportant. The phase diagrams also include regions where superconductivity is obliterated due to the formation of various charge-ordered phases. The enhancement of
Tc due to inhomogeneity is robust as long as the electron doping per site,
n, is less than twice the fraction of interacting sites $[2(1\ensuremath{-}f)]$ regardless of the pattern. We also show that for certain inhomogeneous patterns, when $n=2(1\ensuremath{-}f)$, increasing temperature can work against the stability of existing charge-ordered phases for large
f and, as a result, enhance
Tc.
Strong evidence is presented for the localization of low-energy quasiparticle states in disordered
d-wave superconductors. Within the framework of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) theory applied to the extended Hubbard model with a finite concentration of nonmagnetic impurities, we carry out a fully self-consistent numerical diagonalization of the BdG equations on finite clusters containing up to 50\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}50 sites. Localized states are identified by probing their sensitivity to the boundary conditions and by analyzing the finite-size dependence of inverse participation ratios.
The low-temperature properties of the two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model are strongly influenced by the fermion density. Away from half-filling, there is a finite-temperature transition to a phase with
s-wave pairing order. However,
Tc is suppressed to zero at half-filling, where long-range charge-density-wave order also appears, degenerate with superconductivity. This paper presents determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the attractive Hubbard model in the presence of a confining potential
Vtrap which makes the fermion density $\ensuremath{\rho}$ inhomogeneous across the lattice. Pair correlations are shown to be large at low temperatures in regions of the trapped system with incommensurate filling, and to exhibit a minimum as the local density $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbit{i})$ passes through one fermion per site. In this ring of $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbit{i})=1$, charge order is enhanced. A comparison is made between treating
Vtrap within the local-density approximation (LDA) and in an ab initio manner. It is argued that certain sharp features of the LDA result at integer filling do not survive the proximity of doped sites. The critical temperature of confined systems of fixed characteristic density is estimated.