Eur. Phys. J. B 57, 21-25 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2007-00156-9

Two regimes in the magnetic field response of superconducting MgB₂

¹ Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, INSP, Universités Paris 6 et 7, CNRS (UMR 75 88), 140 rue Lourmel, 75015 Paris, France
² CNR-INFM Laboratorio Regionale SUPERMAT, Universitá degli Studi di Salerno, via S. Allende, 84081 Baronissi (SA), Italy

Corresponding author: ^a giubileo@sa.infn.it

Received: 28 November 2006
Revised: 4 May 2007
Published online: 1 June 2007

Abstract

Using Scanning Tunneling Microscope at low temperature we explore the superconducting phase diagram in the π-band of the two-band superconductor MgB₂. In this band the peculiar shape of the local tunneling spectra and their dynamics in the magnetic field reveal the complex character of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS). The gap in the DOS is first rapidly filled with states in raising the magnetic field up to 0.5 T and then slowly approaches the normal state value: the gap is observed up to 2 T. Such a change in the DOS dynamics suggests the existence of two terms in the DOS of the π-band: a first one, reflecting an intrinsic superconductivity in the band and a second one, originating from an inter-band coupling to the σ-band. Our findings allow a deeper understanding of the unique phase diagram of MgB₂.