In-situ measurement of self-heating in intrinsic tunnelling spectroscopy

Using advanced sample engineering we performed simultaneous measurement of intrinsic (interlayer) tunnelling characteristics and in-situ monitoring of temperature in small Bi-2212 mesa structures. Together with a systematic study of size-dependence of intrinsic tunnelling, this allowed an unambiguous discrimination between artifacts of self-heating and gaps in electronic spectrum of Bi-2212 High-$T_c$ superconductor. Finally, we analyze the reliability of intrinsic tunnelling spectroscopy and discuss how it can be improved.