Superconducting properties of BaBi3

We report the superconducting properties of single crystals of the intermetallic compound BaBi3, whose crystal structure is perovskite related. The superconducting transition temperature ( T c = 5.82 ?> K) was obtained from heat capacity measurements. Using the measured values for the critical fields H c 1 , H c 2 ?> , and the specific heat C, we estimate the thermodynamic critical field H c (0), coherence length ξ(0), Debye temperature &THgr; D ?> and coupling constant λep. &Dgr; C / &ggr; T c ?> and λep suggest that BaBi3 is a weakly coupled superconductor. Electronic band structure calculations show a complex Fermi surface and a moderately high DOS at the Fermi level. Further analysis of the electronic specific heat shows that the superconducting properties are dominated by s-wave gap.