Tunneling spectroscopy of Tl2Ba2CuO6

Abstract

New results from tunneling spectroscopies on near optimally doped single crystals of Tl2Ba2CuO6 (Tl-2201) junctions are presented. The superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN) tunnel junctions are obtained using the point-contact technique with a Au tip. The tunneling conductances reproducibly show a sharp cusp-like subgap, prominent quasiparticle peaks with a consistent asymmetry, and weakly decreasing backgrounds. A rigorous analysis of the SIN tunneling data is performed using two different models for the dx(2)-y(2) (d-wave) density of states (DOS). Based on these and earlier results, the tunneling DOS of Tl-2201 has exhibited the most reproducible data that are consistent with a d-wave gap symmetry. We show that the dip feature at 2 Δ that is, clearly seen in SIN tunneling data of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ is also present in Tl-2201, but at a weaker level. The gap values for crystals with a bulk Tc = 86 K are in the range of 19-25 meV.