Title Parity-fluctuation induced enlargement of the ratio $\Delta_{E}/k_{B}T_{c}$ in metallic grains Author Croitoru, M.D. Shanenko, A.A. Peeters, F.M. Axt, V.M. Faculty/Department Faculty of Sciences. Physics Publication type article Publication 2011 Lancaster, Pa , 2011 Subject Physics Source (journal) Physical review : B : condensed matter and materials physics. - Lancaster, Pa, 1998 - 2015 Volume/pages 84(2011) :21 , p. 214518,1-214518,12 ISSN 1098-0121 ISI 000298114100003 Article Reference 214518 Carrier E-only publicatie Target language English (eng) Full text (Publishers DOI) Affiliation University of Antwerp Abstract We investigate how the interplay of quantum confinement and particle number-parity fluctuations affects superconducting correlations in ultra-small metallic grains. Using the number-parity projected BCS formalism we calculate the critical temperature and the excitation gap as a function of the grain size for grains with even and odd number of confined carriers. We show that the experimentally observed anomalous increase of the coupling ratio ΔE/kBTc with decreasing superconducting grain size can be attributed to an enhancement of the number-parity fluctuations in ultra-small grains. Full text (open access) https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/62a3cd/ff4eddc3.pdf E-info http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000298114100003&DestLinkType=RelatedRecords&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=ef845e08c439e550330acc77c7d2d848 http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000298114100003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=ef845e08c439e550330acc77c7d2d848 http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000298114100003&DestLinkType=CitingArticles&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=ef845e08c439e550330acc77c7d2d848 Handle