Tunneling spectroscopy of Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 single crystals and thin films

Abstract

Early electron tunneling experiments with the Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 measured Δ= 16-28 meV, while bulk optical experiments measured Δ= 43-45 meV. We report new tunneling measurements of Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 single crystals and c-axis oriented thin films, where the measured Δvalues on both sample types cover the range of 24-50 meV, with more than 70% of the junctions displaying Δ> 30 meV. This work resolves the inconsistency between previously published results of tunneling and optical experiments. New tunneling conductances reveal improved superconducting gap region characteristics consistent with d-wave symmetry. The tunneling spectra also display features similar to the dip feature observed in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. We discuss our results in context of experiments reported previously on related materials.

7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Physical Review B