Field angle dependence of the zero-energy density of states in unconventional superconductors: Analysis of the borocarbide superconductor YNi2B2C

Abstract

We investigate the field-angle-dependent zero-energy density of states for YNi2B2C with using realistic Fermi surfaces obtained by band calculations. Both the 17th and 18th bands are taken into account. For calculating the oscillating density of states, we adopt the Kramer-Pesch approximation, which is found to improve accuracy in the oscillation amplitude. We show that superconducting gap structure determined by analyzing STM experiments is consistent with thermal transport and heat capacity measurements. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.