Density of states and order parameter in dirty anisotropic superconductors

Abstract

We analyze in detail how the scattering by nonmagnetic impurities affects the shape and amplitude of the order parameter (OP) and the density of states in anisotropic superconductors in the framework of BCS theory. Special attention is paid to the case when the OP is a mixture of d and s waves changing its sign on the Fermi surface. The critical temperature is shown to decay with the increase of the residual resistance according to the power law. At zero temperature impurity scattering gives rise to a peculiar phase transition from a gapless regime to a state with a finite gap in the quasiparticle spectrum. © 1996 The American Physical Society.