Experimental determination of the superconducting pairing state in YBCO from the phase coherence of YBCO-Pb dc SQUIDs

Abstract

We present an experiment designed to determine directly the symmetry of the pairing state in the cuprate superconductors. From the magnetic flux modulation of YBCO-Pb dc SQUIDs, we determine the spatial anisotropy of the phase of the order parameter in single crystals of YBCO. The experimental results are complicated by SQUID asymmetries and the trapping of magnetic vortices, but taken as a whole give rather strong evidence for a phase shift of π that is predicted for the ${\mathit{d}}_{\mathit{x}}^{2\mathrm{-}}$ ${\mathit{y}}^2$ pairing state. This is further corroborated by single junction modulation measurements.