Thermal conductivity of unconventional superconductors: a probe of the order parameter symmetry

Experimental data and theoretical aspects of the thermal conductivity κ and magneto-thermal conductivity κ(B) of high-Tc superconductors and heavy fermions are reviewed in the very-low-temperature region in order to sort out features and convincing arguments for deciding on the order parameter symmetry. In the case of high-Tc cuprates, the analysis of experimental results in YBa2Cu3O7-δ and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 samples is not consistent with an isotropic s-wave energy gap parameter but can be well described by considering an anisotropic dx2-y2-wave energy gap parameter, i.e. with nodes in the gap. Furthermore, the field dependence of the thermal conductivity of e.g. YBa2Cu3O7-δ and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 can be explained by assuming that electrons are mainly scattered by the vortex cores like those of a d-wave superconductor. In the case of the heavy fermion superconductor UPt3, the κ anisotropy found for the field-free and field dependence of the thermal conductivity allows us to discriminate the symmetry of the energy gap parameter. The latter is consistent with a gap parameter of E2u type, i.e. with lines of nodes along the basal plane and quadratic point nodes along the c-axis. (author)