Energy gap structure of layered superconductors

The authors report the energy gap structure and density-of-states (DOS) of a model layered superconductor with one superconducting layer and one normal layer in a unit cell along the c-axis. In the physically interesting parameter range where the interlayer hopping strengths of the quasiparticles are comparable to the critical temperature, the peaks in the DOS curve do not correspond to the order parameter (OP) of the superconducting layer, but depend on the OP and the band dispersion in the c-direction in a complex manner. In contrast to a BCS superconductor, the DOS of layered systems have logarithmic singularities. The simulated tunneling characteristics bear close resemblance to experimental results