Electronic structure and superconductivity of fcc Cr

Results of self-consistent electronic structure calculations are reported for metastable fcc Cr metal. Unlike the case of bcc Cr which has EF at a minimum in the density of states (DOS), the DOS at EF in fcc Cr is at a peak making this one of the higher-DOS metals with the fcc structure (e.g., comparable with that of Ni and Pt). A calculated Stoner factor of 0.82 indicates that ferromagnetic ordering is not expected. Calculations of the electron-phonon coupling parameter and superconducting transition temperature Tc were made using the rigid-ion approximation and strong-coupling theory with various estimates of the (unknown) phonon contribution. We conclude that Tc's2.5 K are reasonable, although they are substantially smaller than the Tc10 K derived from measurements on Au-Cr-Au sandwiches.