Field dependence of the electrothermal conductivity of high-Tc superconductors

Abstract

The field dependence of the electrothermal conductivity P=S/ρ of high-Tc superconductors is calculated using a kinetic Boltzmann-like theory for either an s-wave or a d-wave gap parameter symmetry. The charge carriers are assumed to be scattered only by the bound states in the vortex cores. In this approximation, experimental results on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 compounds near Tc can only be explained by considering a d-wave gap parameter for reasonable values of the physical parameters.