Gap Anisotropy and de Haas-van Alphen Effect in Type-II Superconductors

We present a theoretical study on the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation in the vortex state of type-II superconductors, with a special focus on the connection between the gap anisotropy and the oscillation damping. Numerical calculations for three different gap structures clearly indicate that the average gap along extremal orbits is relevant for the magnitude of the extra damping, thereby providing a support for experimental efforts to probe gap anisotropy through the dHvA signal. We also derive an analytic formula for the extra damping which gives a good fit to the numerical results.