Anisotropy in Quasiparticle Density of States in the Vortex State of an Orthorhombic d-Wave Superconductor

Abstract

The quasiparticle density of states is calculated in the vortex state of an orthorhombic d-wave superconductor as a function of the orientation of the external magnetic field (H ) in the CuO ₂ -plane. Because of the existence of chains oriented along the y-axis in YBCO, its in-plane properties are highly anisotropic and in the superconducting state a predominantly $d_{x^2 - y^2 }$ order parameter will also contain a subdominant s-wave admixture allowed by the orthorhombic crystal space group. In a simple anisotropic effective mass model for the band structure and a d + s gap we compute the quasiparticle density of states as a function of the orientation (γ) of H with respect to the a-axis in the CuO ₂ plane. As a function of γ we find a two fold pattern of behavior with minima at the angles where the Fermi velocity at the nodal momentum is in the direction of the external field. For an untwinned single crystal the resulting anisotropy of the specific heat at low temperatures should be measurable. It is greatly reduced in twinned samples