title: Imaging the anisotropic nonlinear meissner effect in nodal YBa2 Cu3 O7-δ thin-film superconductors.
abstract: We have directly imaged the anisotropic nonlinear Meissner effect in an unconventional superconductor through the nonlinear electrodynamic response of both (bulk) gap nodes and (surface) Andreev bound states. A superconducting thin film is patterned into a compact self-resonant spiral structure, excited near resonance in the radio-frequency range, and scanned with a focused laser beam perturbation. At low temperatures, direction-dependent nonlinearities in the reactive and resistive properties of the resonator create photoresponse that maps out the directions of nodes, or of bound states associated with these nodes, on the Fermi surface of the superconductor. The method is demonstrated on the nodal superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-δ and the results are consistent with theoretical predictions for the bulk and surface contributions.
authors.affiliation: B Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, UA-61103 Kharkov, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Alexander P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Zhuravel
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Ghamsari
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kurter
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Remillard
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abrahams
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Lukashenko
authors.forename: Alexey V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ustinov
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Anlage