Zero bias conductance peak enhancement in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8/Pb tunneling junctions

Recently, there has been tremendous interest on a tunneling feature called zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) commonly found in high T-c superconductor tunnel junctions. The interest stemmed from the feature's root in the d-wa ve symmetry of high T-c superconductors. In this paper we will review resul ts of our study on ZBCP within a Pb/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) tunneling junctio n. This allows us to investigate the intricate interactions between s- and d-wave superconductivity. The ZBCP indeed demonstrates interesting properti es when Pb becomes superconducting. We attribute these results to the suppr ession of the d-wave phase on the surface of BSCCO by the s-wave supercondu ctivity from Pb through a proximity effect. We will also report some recent results on the magnetic field dependence of the ZBCP. (C) 1999 Academic Pr ess.