# Comment on the anisotropic impurity scattering in superconductors

## Abstract

We discuss a case of a strong anisotropic impurity scattering within the model introduced in our previous paper $`[`$Phys. Rev. B54, 15463 (1996)$`]`$ and clarify on our former statement about a possible enhancement of the critical temperature in this scattering regime. We show, that for the anisotropy of the impurity potential determined by the functions from the non identity irreducible representations of the crystal point group the critical temperature decreases with the impurity scattering rate which is consistent with a generally understood role of disorder in superconductors.

The anisotropy of the impurity potential has become an important issue in the interpretation of the critical temperature suppression data in the cuprates.  Although still not confirmed by any experiments (a good test may be provided by the angle resolved density of states  measurements below $`T_c`$) the scattering potentials assuming a momentum-dependent scattering probability can be very helpful in understanding the experimental data.  In particular, it is possible to obtain within a phenomenological model which introduces anisotropy in the impurity scattering potential  a good agreement with the electron irradiation data in $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ crystals.  This model, however, has some interpretational difficulties. It has been mentioned  that under certain conditions it could lead to an enhancement of $`T_c`$ which seems unphysical as superconductivity should be suppressed by an increasing amount of disorder in the system.  In this letter we address this problem in more detail and show that the model really predicts a reduction of the critical temperature if the anisotropy of the impurity potential is represented by a certain class of functions. This class corresponds to the irreducible non identity representations of the crystal point group.

We discuss a superconducting state defined by the orbital part of the order parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\left(𝐤\right)=\mathrm{\Delta }e\left(𝐤\right)`$ where $`e\left(𝐤\right)`$ is a real basis function of a one-dimensional (1D) irreducible representation of an appropriate point group or a linear combination of such functions. For the sake of convenience $`e\left(𝐤\right)`$ is normalized as $`e^2=1`$, where $`<\mathrm{}>=_{FS}𝑑S_kn\left(𝐤\right)\left(\mathrm{}\right)`$ denotes the average value over the Fermi surface (FS), $`n\left(𝐤\right)`$ is the angle resolved FS density of states normalized to unity, i.e. $`_{FS}𝑑S_kn\left(𝐤\right)=1`$, and $`_{FS}𝑑S_k`$ represents the integration over the Fermi surface.

The impurity scattering potential appropriate for the second-order Born scattering limit  is introduced as

$$|w\left(𝐤𝐤^{}\right)|^2=|w_0|^2+|w_1|^2f\left(𝐤\right)f\left(𝐤^{}\right)$$
(1)   
with $`|w_0|`$ and $`|w_1|`$ representing isotropic and anisotropic scattering amplitude respectively. The momentum-dependent function $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ determines the symmetry of the anisotropy of the impurity potential and is assumed to vanish after the integration over the Fermi surface, $`f=0`$. Therefore, the Fermi surface average of the scattering potential $`|w\left(𝐤𝐤^{}\right)|^2=|w_0|^2`$ is determined by the $`s`$-wave core ($`|w_0|`$) and the momentum-dependent part in Eq. (1) represents the deviations from the isotropic scattering. For the sake of simplicity we normalize $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ according to $`f^2=1`$. Finally, the requirement of a non negative value of the squared potential in Eq. (1) yields $`|w_1|^2|w_0|^2`$ constraint on the potential amplitudes.

Following standard procedure  the equation for the critical temperature of a superconductor with a separable pairing potential $`V(𝐤,𝐤^{})=V_0e\left(𝐤\right)e\left(𝐤^{}\right)`$ ($`V_0`$ is a positive potential amplitude) in the presence of anisotropic impurity scattering is obtained 

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{ln}\frac{T_c}{T_{c_0}}=\left(e^2+ef^21\right)\left[\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{2\pi T_c}\right)\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)\right]+\hfill \\ \\ ef^2\left[\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{2\pi T_c}\left(1\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}\right)\right)\right]\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)   
In writing above we have introduced the isotropic $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ and anisotropic $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ impurity scattering rates ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$)

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=\pi N_0n_i|w_0|^2,\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=\pi N_0n_i|w_1|^2$$
(3)   
where $`n_i`$ is impurity (defect) concentration. The model introduces two dimensionless parameters which characterize the anisotropy of the pair-breaking effect. First of them, $`ef^2=\left[_{FS}𝑑S_kn\left(𝐤\right)e\left(𝐤\right)f\left(𝐤\right)\right]^2`$, describes the interplay between the pair potential $`V(𝐤,𝐤^{})`$ and the anisotropic part of the scattering potential, $`|w\left(𝐤𝐤^{}\right)|^2`$ (Eq. (1)). This parameter is determined by the symmetry of the superconducting state, $`e\left(𝐤\right)`$, as well as that of the impurity scattering matrix element, $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$. According to the normalization of the order parameter, $`e^2=1`$, and the anisotropy function of the impurity potential, $`f^2=1`$, the parameter $`ef^2`$ takes values between 0 and 1. The second parameter in our model, ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$), represents the amount of anisotropic scattering rate in impurity potential normalized by the isotropic scattering rate (Eq. (3)), and its value varies also from 0 to 1. Several limits of the above equation were examined in Ref. 1. Our analysis showed that the symmetry of the anisotropic potential is an important factor and a significant reduction in the pair-breaking strength appears for large values of $`ef^2`$ with an appropriate level of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$.

Among the terms determining the critical temperature in Eq. (2) only one depends on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$. Therefore, $`T_c`$ can be maximized with respect to this parameter by taking $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ value maximizing the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$-dependent term. This is achieved for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=1`$ that is, in the case of the strong anisotropic scattering.  The critical temperature is then determined by

$$\mathrm{ln}\frac{T_c}{T_{c_0}}=\left(e^2+ef^21\right)\left(\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{2\pi T_c}\right)\psi \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)\right)$$
(4)   
It is easy to see that the critical temperature becomes very robust with respect to the impurity scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$, especially for a significant overlap between $`e\left(𝐤\right)`$ and $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ functions, that is when $`ef^21`$. This case led to the earlier mentioned difficulty of the model.  The critical temperature is determined now by a coefficient

$$\alpha =e^2+ef^21$$
(5)   
As long as $`\alpha `$ is negative superconductivity is suppressed by the disorder. However, a positive value of $`\alpha `$ would mean an enhancement of the critical temperature due to impurity scattering. Below we show that the second option is impossible for a wide class of functions $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ to which we postulate to restrict the model.

We assume that $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ belongs to a non identity 1D representation of the crystal symmetry group or is given by a linear combination of such functions. It is worth observing, that the above choice of $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$ yields $`f=0`$ which is in agreement with the model. As the next step, we express the superconducting order parameter as a sum of a part belonging to the identity irreducible representation $`e_i\left(𝐤\right)`$ and $`e_n\left(𝐤\right)`$ given by a linear combination of functions transforming according to the non identity irreducible representations

$$e\left(𝐤\right)=e_i\left(𝐤\right)+e_n\left(𝐤\right)$$
(6)   
In the case of a $`\left(d_{x^2y^2}+s\right)`$-wave superconductor for instance, $`e_n\left(𝐤\right)cos2\varphi `$ and $`e_i\left(𝐤\right)1`$. Using the property of orthogonality of different irreducible representations of a given symmetry group and taking into account that the FS average defines a scalar product in the space of functions defined on the Fermi sheet, we note that $`e^2=e_i^2`$ and $`ef^2=e_nf^2`$. Therefore, the coefficient $`\alpha `$ can be written as

$$\alpha =e_i^2+e_nf^21$$
(7)   
Through the Schwarz inequality $`e_i^2e_i^2`$ we obtain an upper limit on $`\alpha `$

$$\alpha e_i^2+e_nf^21$$
(8)   
It is worth noting, that the equality in the above relation holds only for $`e_i\left(𝐤\right)1`$ that is, for instance in the $`\left(d_{x^2y^2}+s\right)`$-wave or $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconducting state. A simple relation $`e^2=e_i^2+e_n^2`$ and the normalization condition $`e^2=1`$ yield $`e_i^2=1e_n^2`$ which leads to an equivalent to the relation (8) constraint on $`\alpha `$

$$\alpha e_nf^2e_n^2$$
(9)   
Using a normalization $`f^2=1`$ we can rewrite the right-hand side of the inequality (9) as

$$e_nf^2e_n^2=e_nf^2e_n^2f^2$$
(10)   
Finally, from the relations (9), (10) and by applying Schwarz inequality we get $`\alpha 0`$. Therefore, according to Eqs. (4) and (5) $`T_c`$ is a decreasing or a constant function of the impurity scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$. It is worth observing, that $`e_nf^2e_n^2f^2=0`$ only when $`f\left(𝐤\right)e_n\left(𝐤\right)`$ i.e. in a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$\- or $`\left(d_{x^2y^2}+s\right)`$-wave superconductor for $`f\left(𝐤\right)cos2\varphi `$. Thus, according to the model, these superconducting states will not be altered by anisotropic impurity scattering of the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave symmetry provided the scattering strengths in the isotropic and anisotropic channels are equal ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=1`$). We believe, that it is rather a not plausible situation.

In conclusion, we have shown that the potential impurity scattering with the anisotropy  introduced by Eq. (1) leads to a pair-breaking effect in superconductors for the anisotropy of the impurity potential, $`f\left(𝐤\right)`$, determined by a linear combination of functions from the non identity irreducible representations of the crystal point group. Therefore, in order to reflect a general feature of disorder induced superconductivity suppression, the anisotropy of the discussed model potential should be limited to this class of functions.

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.