Specific heat of Mg11B2: evidence for a second energy gap.
Measurements of the specific heat of Mg11B2 from 1 to 50 K, in magnetic fields to 9 T, give the Debye temperature, Theta = 1050 K, the coefficient of the normal-state electron contribution, gamma(n) = 2.6 mJ mol(-1) K-2, and a discontinuity in the zero-field specific heat of 133 mJ mol(-1) K-1 at T(c) = 38.7 K. The estimated value of the electron-phonon coupling parameter, lambda = 0.62, could account for the observed T(c) only if the important phonon frequencies are unusually high relative to Theta. At low T, there is a strongly field-dependent feature that suggests the existence of a second energy gap, about 4 times smaller than the major gap.
Bouquet
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Fisher
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Phillips
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Hinks
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Jorgensen
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