A modest proposal for inducing high-temperature superconductivity in materials useful to the Publick

Abstract

We discuss the possibility of inducing superconductivity by proximity effect, from a high-T_c superconductor into a simple normal metal such as Ag. The characteristic length is the coherence length of Ag, which is much larger than that of the high-T, superconductor, so that a sizeable gap (larger than 10 K) can be induced into Ag films 50 nm thick. If the induced gap is larger than 40 K, it can be seen directly by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. If it is not, the electronic density of states, modified by the Andreev effect, looks like that of a two-dimensional quantum well.