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-c1, H-c2, and the specific heat C, we estimate the thermodynamic critical field H-c(0), coherence length xi(0), Debye temperature Theta(D) and coupling constant lambda(ep). Delta C/gamma T-c and lambda(ep) 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.