Thermodynamics of the Superconducting Phase Transition in Ba_{0.6}K_{0.4}BiO_3

Abstract

We suggest that the transition to superconductivity in a single crystal of Ba_{0.6}K_{0.4}BiO_3 with a T_c = 32K, and having critical fields with anomalous temperature dependencies and vanishing discontinuities in specific heat and magnetic susceptibility, may well be an example of a fourth order (in Ehrenfest's sense) phase transition. We have derived a free energy functional for a fourth order transition and calculated (for the temperature range ${T_c/2 < T \simeq T_c}$) the temperature dependence of the critical fields. We find $H_{c1}(T)\propto (1-T/T_c)^3, H_0(T)\propto (1-T/T_c)^2$ and $H_{c2}(T)\propto (1-T/T_c)^{1}$ in general agreement with experiments.

12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PRL; This version corrects reference numbering and other minor typographical changes made while prepairing page proofs. (No content change.)