Abstract
It is widely held that the single most important parameter describing the strength of the electron-phonon interaction in superconductivity is the mass enhancement factor λ, and that the maximum possible transition temperature for a given class of materials (e.g., the polyvalent metals) is attained for a very large value, λ≈3, of the parameter. We show that it is not likely that the highest attainable values ofT c will reflect such large values of λ. Instead, we expect that they will be associated with values of λ that do not differ greatly from a value of about 1.5, and with very large values of the parameterA, whereA is the area under the electron-phonon interaction spectrum α2 F(v). This is certainly the case forNb 3 Sn, which has aT c of 18 K.
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Research sponsored by the National Research Council of Canada.
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Leavens, C.R., Carbotte, J.P. An important parameter in high-temperature superconductivity. J Low Temp Phys 14, 195–211 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00654817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00654817