Inversion of two-band superconductivity at the critical electron doping of (Mg, Al)B2.

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) was combined with heat capacity measurements to probe changes of electronic structure and superconductivity in Mg(1-x)Al(x)B(2). A simultaneous decrease of EELS intensity from sigma-band hole states and the magnitude of the sigma gap was observed with increasing x, thus verifying that band filling results in the loss of strong superconductivity. These quantities extrapolated to zero at x approximately 0.33 as inferred from the unit cell volume. However, superconductivity was not quenched completely, but persisted with T(c) < 7 K up to about x approximately 55. Only the pi band had detectable density of states for 0.33 < or =x < or = 0.55, implying an inversion of the two-band hierarchy of MgB(2) in that regime. Since pi-band superconductivity is active in other materials such as intercalated graphite, implications for new materials with high T(c) are discussed.