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Phase transition in the 3 Kelvin phase in the eutectic Sr2RuO4-Ru
The inhomogeneous 3-Kelvin (3K) phase of the eutectic Sr2RuO4 with Ru
inclusions nucleates superconductivity at the interface between Ru and Sr2RuO4.
The structure of the interface state and its physical properties are examined
here. Two superconducting phases are identified between the transitions to the
bulk phase at 1.5K and to the 3K phase. The nucleation of the 3K phase results
in a state conserving time reversal symmetry, which generates an intrinsically
frustrated superconducting network in samples with many Ru inclusions. At a
lower temperature (>1.5K), a discontinuous (first order) transition to an
interface state breaking time reversal symmetry is found leading to an
unfrustrated network phase. It is shown that this phase transition located at a
temperature between 1.5 and 3K would yield the anomalous property that the
critical current in such a network depends on the sign of the current,
reproducing recent experimental observations.Comment: This paper has been withdrawn by the authors. 5 pages, 6 figure
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