Two-band superconductor magnesium diboride

This review focuses on the most important features of the 40 K superconductor MgB2—the weakly interacting multiple bands (the σ and π bands) and the distinct multiple superconducting energy gaps (the σ and π gaps). Even though the pairing mechanism of superconductor MgB2 is the conventional electron–phonon coupling, the prominent influence of the two bands and two gaps on its properties sets it apart from other superconductors. It leads to markedly different behaviors in upper critical field, vortex structure, magnetoresistance and many other superconducting and normal-state properties in MgB2 from single-band superconductors. Further, it gives rise to new physics that does not exist in single-band superconductors, such as the internal Josephson effects between the two order parameters. These unique phenomena depend sensitively on scattering inside and between the two bands, and the intraband and interband scattering can be modified by chemical substitution and irradiation. MgB2 has brought unprecedented attention to two-band superconductivity, which has been found to exist in other old and new superconductors. The legacy of MgB2 will be long lasting because of this, as well as the lessons it teaches in terms of the search for new phonon-mediated higher Tc superconductors.