The problem on crossover between the Cooper-pair condensation and the Bose-Einstein condensation of “di-electronic molecules” in two-dimensional superconductors is discussed. a result based on the Nozières and Schmitt-Rink formalism is reviewed and a preliminary result beyond their formalism is presented. In the latter, effect of repulsion between electron pairs due to the exchange effect among constituent electrons plays a crucial role.
The problem on crossover between the Cooper-pair condensation and the Bose-Einstein condensation of “di-electronic molecules” in two-dimensional superconductors is discussed. a result based on the Nozières and Schmitt-Rink formalism is reviewed and a preliminary result beyond their formalism is presented. In the latter, effect of repulsion between electron pairs due to the exchange effect among constituent electrons plays a crucial role.
The crossover between the Cooper-pair condensation and the Bose-Einstein condensation of ``di-electronic'' molecules in two-dimensional superconductors is investigated in detail on the basis of the Nozi\`eres and Schmitt-Rink formalism. It is shown that temperature dependence of the chemical potential \ensuremath{\mu} so calculated is classified into two classes as decreasing temperatures; i.e., class (a) where \ensuremath{\mu} approaches the point of Bose-Einstein condensation of two-dimensional ideal Bose gas of ``di-electronic'' molecules, and class (b) where \ensuremath{\mu} diverges positively along the line of BCS-type mean-field pair condensation. This feature is rather universal irrespective of strength V of the attractive interaction of the s-wave type. While the former class (a) has been found by Schmitt-Rink, Varma, and Ruckenstein, existence of the latter class (b) is recognized here. In the case where V is fixed, class (a) is realized for electron number density N smaller than Ncr, which is an increasing function of V, and class (b) is realized for N larger than Ncr. If N\ensuremath{\gg}Ncr in particular, there exists a regime, where the Fermi-liquid-like description is valid, between the BCS-type mean-field transition temperature and the Fermi temperature. In the situation where V is changed with N being fixed, low-temperature states for the strong-coupling case belong to class (a) while those for the weak-coupling case belong to class (b). Therefore, with decreasing V, the chemical potential \ensuremath{\mu}(T), at temperatures far below the Fermi temperature, shows a discontinuous jump at V=Vcr(N) corresponding to the transition from class (a) to (b). However, this is in contradiction to a physical picture that the chemical potential should smoothly cross over between the above two limits unless the liquid-gas transition occurs. This shows in turn a necessity of improving the Nozi\`eres and Schmitt-Rink formalism itself especially in two dimensions. A preliminary approach beyond their formalism is briefly discussed.
Physical properties of two-dimensional (2D) superconductors is an active area of long time researches in which many, even principle, questions are still open. One of them is a possibility of a smooth crossover of the system from the standard Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) regime of strongly overlapping Cooper pairs to the regime of Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of almost non-overlapping local pairs. The adequate to the real process description of this transition which can happen either by changing the doping or temperature would lead to a better understanding of the superconducting properties of materials. Though the crossover is not observed in one of the most important layered systems—namely, cuprate superconductors—we demonstrate that in systems with stronger electron-electron attraction it is possible. In particular, in the d-wave channel at sufficiently high doping the crossover can take place with growth of temperature two times, i.e., as BEC→BCS, and followed by reverse BCS→BEC condensation. The physical mechanisms of such transitions and possibility to detect them experimentally in real systems are discussed.
We review aspects of the evolution from Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) in two dimensions, which have now become relevant in systems with low densities, such as gated superconductors Li xZrNCl, magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene, FeSe, FeSe1− xS x, and ultracold Fermi superfluids. We emphasize the important role played by chemical potentials in determining crossovers or topological quantum phase transitions during the BCS–BEC evolution in one-band and two-band superfluids and superconductors. We highlight that crossovers from BCS to BEC occur for pairing in nonnodal s-wave channels, whereas topological quantum phase transitions, in which the order parameter symmetry does not change, arise for pairing in any nodal higher angular momentum channels, such as d-wave. We conclude by discussing a few open questions regarding the BCS-to-BEC evolution in 2D, including modulus fluctuations of the order parameter, tighter upper bounds on critical temperatures, and the exploration of lattice effects in two-band superconductors and superfluids.
Cooper pairing in two dimensions is discussed with emphasis on the effect of the mode-mode coupling of the pair fluctuations. Extending the Nozières and Schmitt-Rink theory so as to take into account the repulsion among pair fluctuations, the transition temperature T c and the chemical potential µ are determined self-consistently, giving the solution T c =0 and µ≃ε F in the limit of weak attraction among constituent fermions. It is essential to take into account the screening effect of the long-range repulsive interaction among the pair fluctuations.
Observed crossover events between different power functions of absolute temperature occurring below about ~1 K in the temperature dependence of the heat capacity or the thermal conductivity of the conventional superconductors are identified as transitions from Maxwell-Boltzmann to Bose-Einstein (BE) statistics of the Cooper-pairs. Because of the low mass of the Cooper pairs of 2me (with me as mass of the electron) and their high density, the BE-condensation temperature, TBE, of the Cooper-pairs is about five orders of magnitude higher than for the dilute alkali atom condensates. The condensation temperature TBE turns out to be proportional to the superconducting transition temperature TSC. From the observed TBE-values it is possible to calculate the density of the Cooper pairs. Assuming that the Cooper pairs form a dense gas of bosons, the diameter of the Cooper-pair orbitals turns out to be equal to the London penetration depth. As a conclusion, due to the large orbital diamagnetism of the Cooper-pairs pairs, only one layer of Cooper-pairs, next to the inner surface of the sample, is sufficient to shield an applied external magnetic field completely.
We show that the natural variable to follow the crossover from Cooper-pair-based superconductivity to Bose–Einstein condensation within the model of Noziéres and Schmitt-Rink is the product k F ξ, where k F is the Fermi wave vector and ξ, is the coherence length for two-electron correlation. In terms of this product, the results of the model do not depend on the detailed form of the (separable) pairing potential, and the crossover turns out to be restricted to the universal region π −1 ≲k F ξ ≲ 2π. Experimental estimates indicate that k F ξ ≈10 (> 2π) for high-T c superconductors. Evolution from weak to strong coupling superconductivity has been considered by Nozières and Schmitt-Rink [1] (hereafter referred to as NSR) following the pioneering work by Leggett [2]. After the discovery of high- T c superconductivity, the interest in this problem has grown, and many papers on this subject have appeared [3]. In the present work, we show that working within the simplified treatment by NSR, it is already possible to isolate the essential features of the crossover. Central to the work of NSR and Leggett is the argument [4] that the BCS wave function has the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) built in as a limiting case. (See the review by Randeria in this volume.) NSR study the evolution from BCS to BEC through the increase of the coupling strength associated to an effective fermionic attractive potential, and conclude that the evolution is “smooth”.