PdTe: A strongly coupled superconductor

We report the electrical transport, magnetic, and thermodynamic properties of polycrystalline PdTe which exhibits superconductivity below 4.5K. Using the measured values for the lower (H c1) and upper (H c2) critical fields, and the specific heat C p, we estimate the thermodynamic critical field H c(0), coherence length (0), penetration depth (0), and the GinzburgLandau parameter . Compared with band structure calculations, the density of states at the Fermi level is enhanced due to electronphonon coupling with ep=1.4. Furthermore, the large values of C p/ nT c and 2(0)/k BT c suggest that PdTe is a strongly coupled superconductor. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd