# REFERENCES

Li et al. reply: In their Comment on our recent Letter , Bhattacharya et al. note that for the geometry used in their experiment to try to detect the modes supported by the Meissner state of a $`d`$-wave superconductor predicted by $`\stackrel{˘}{\mathrm{Z}}`$utić and Valls , a field of first vortex penetration $`H_{c1}^{}`$ of 300 Oe was measured. They then argue that the crossover field $`H^{}`$ separating the regime dominated by nonlocal electrodynamics and a local regime is of order only 20 Oe, suggesting that nonlocal effects can be neglected for their geometry for most of the intermediate field range $`H^{}<H<H_{c1}^{}`$. Instead, they attribute their failure to observe these modes to the absence of gap nodes due to an out-of-phase admixture of a secondary order parameter component. Here we question whether the theory of $`\stackrel{˘}{\mathrm{Z}}`$utić and Valls can be applied in this intermediate range, argue that a $`d+is`$ state in YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>6.95</sub> (YBCO) is unsupported by other types of experimental evidence, and continue to maintain that the nonlinear Meissner effect is unlikely to be observed in any of its manifestations, due in part to nonlocal effects.

In our paper, we pointed out simply that the nonlocal crossover field $`H^{}\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}{\pi \lambda _0^2}\frac{\xi _{0c}}{\xi _0}`$ ($`\lambda _0`$ is the penetration depth for supercurrents in the plane, and $`\xi _0`$ and $`\xi _{0c}`$ are the coherent lengths in the plane and along the $`\widehat{c}`$ axis, respectively), for the geometry in question, with a dominant (001) surface and $`H\widehat{a},\widehat{b}`$, is generically of the same order of magnitude as the field below which the Meissner state is thermodynamically stable, $`H_{c1}\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_0}{4\pi \lambda _0\lambda _{0c}}\mathrm{ln}\overline{\kappa }`$, where $`\lambda _{0c}`$ is the penetration depth for supercurrents along the $`\widehat{c}`$ axis, and $`\overline{\kappa }=\sqrt{\kappa _0\kappa _{0c}}`$ with $`\kappa _0`$ and $`\kappa _{0c}`$ the plane and the $`\widehat{c}`$-axis Ginzburg-Landau parameters, respectively. Bhattacharya et al. argue  that the experimentally measured field of first vortex penetration $`H_{c1}^{}`$ is as much as an order of magnitude higher. With this problem in mind, we in fact alluded to precisely this difficulty of determining the correct lower critical field in our paper .

We do not have a complete understanding of the high value of $`H_{c1}^{}`$ consistent with all experimental observations at this time. An obvious explanation is the existence of a surface barrier, as is commonly observed in type-II materials . On the other hand, the expected hysteresis in such systems due to barrier profile asymmetry has apparently not been observed.

The real questions are as follows: For fields $`H_{c1}<H<H_{c1}^{}`$, is the sample still in the pure Meissner state and can one expect to observe manifestations of the nonlinear Meissner effect? We believe not. Although the bulk magnetization has not occurred, the intermediate field state is thermodynamically unstable and vortices may be easily trapped at the sample corners or within the skin depth. Two recent high-resolution penetration depth measurements  failed to measure the predicted temperature dependence in this field range, but did observe a large linear-$`H`$ field dependence most likely attributed to trapped vortices . These vortices may make the field penetration layer highly nonuniform, leading to a broadening of the $`\stackrel{˘}{\mathrm{Z}}`$utić-Valls harmonics.

Bhattacharya et al. argue  that their failure to observe the predicted small nonlinearities is strong evidence for the existence of a true gap in the bulk YBCO system, as created, e.g. by a bulk $`d+is`$ order parameter with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s/\mathrm{\Delta }_d`$ of order a few percent. This claim is however inconsistent with several other experiments which indicate the existence of a residual normal fluid in $`YBCO`$, in one case down to 30mK . Were a small out-of-phase order parameter component $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$, of order several degrees K, to exist, the gap in the density of states would exponentially supress quasiparticle excitations at mK temperatures. On the other hand, a much smaller gap, of order tens or even hundreds of milliK is insufficient to eliminate the signal in the experiment of Ref. .

The experiment of Bhattacharya et al. is a clever and careful attempt to measure a very small effect, and, as pointed out by $`\stackrel{˘}{\mathrm{Z}}`$utić and Valls , in principle, is a sensitive probe of gap structure. However, the interpretation of the results is complicated by the influence of trapped flux, and it seems prudent that effects of this type be ruled out or understood before claiming the observation of more exotic effects, such as the $`d+is`$ state invoked by Bhattacharya et al. .

M.-R. Li<sup>1</sup>, P.J. Hirschfeld<sup>2</sup>, and P. Wölfle<sup>1</sup> <sup>1</sup>Institut für Theorie der Kondensierten Materie, Universität Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany. <sup>2</sup>Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.

Received January 1999 PACS numbers: 74.25.Nf, 74.20.Fg