Parity-Affected Superconductivity in Ultrasmall Metallic Grains

Abstract

We investigate the breakdown of BCS superconductivity in {\em ultra}\/small metallic grains as a function of particle size (characterized by the mean spacing $d$ between discrete electronic eigenstates), and the parity ($P$ = even/odd) of the number of electrons on the island. Assuming equally spaced levels, we solve the parity-dependent BCS gap equation for the order parameter $Δ_P (d,T)$. Both the $T=0$ critical level spacing $d_{c,P} $ and the critical temperature $T_{c,P} (d)$ at which $Δ_P = 0$ are parity dependent, and both are so much smaller in the odd than the even case that these differences should be measurable in current experiments.

4 pages RevTeX, 1 encapsulated postscript figure, submitted to Physical Review Letters