Effect of inhomogeneities on the fluctuation-induced cusp in the specific heat of high temperature superconductors

Abstract

We consider the effect of inhomogeneities on the electronic specific heat in high temperature superconductors. We find that a modest spread in the transition temperature of the sample can significantly alter the detailed shape of the specific heat curve of the high temperature superconductors. Our results indicate that only very accurate measurements near Tc can yield unambiguous thermodynamic information such as the fluctuation dimensionality and the number of components in the superconducting order parameter. © 1989.