Calorimetric study of the superconducting transition in Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4−δ

Abstract We report the first observation of a specific-heat anomaly at the superconducting transition temperature of high-quality Nd 1.85 Ce 0.15 CuO 4−δ ceramics with T c =24 K. The amplitude of the jump is ΔC / T c ≅6±0.5 mJ/mole K 2 . Application of a magnetic field H results in a broadening of the C p anomaly while the onset temperature remains field independent. We discuss the consistency of these results with previous magnetic and transport measurements.