263 research outputs found
Multiband superconductivity in the heavy fermion compound PrOs4Sb12
The thermal conductivity of the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12 was
measured down to Tc/40 throughout the vortex state. At lowest temperatures and
for magnetic fields H ~ 0.07Hc2, already 40% of the normal state thermal
conductivity is restored. This behaviour (similar to that observed in MgB2) is
a clear signature of multiband superconductivity in this compound.Comment: 12pages, version #1 20\_06\_200
Superconducting phase diagram of the filled skuterrudite PrOs4Sb12
We present new measurements of the specific heat of the heavy fermion
superconductor PrOs4Sb12, on a sample which exhibits two sharp distinct
anomalies at Tc1= 1.89K and Tc2= 1.72K. They are used to draw a precise
magnetic field-temperature superconducting phase diagram of PrOs4Sb12 down to
350 mK.
We discuss the superconducting phase diagram of PrOs4Sb12 and its possible
relation with an unconventional superconducting order parameter. We give a
detailed analysis of Hc2(T), which shows paramagnetic limitation (a support for
even parity pairing) and multiband effects
Pressure induced effects on the Fermi surface of superconducting 2H-NbSe
The pressure dependence of the critical temperature and upper critical
field has been measured up to 19 GPa in the layered superconducting
material 2H-NbSe. Relating the behavior of to Fermi surface
parameters, we find that the electron phonon coupling of the 2D Nb 4d derived
bands shows a peak at 5 GPa when the charge density wave (CDW) order is
suppressed. On the other hand, shows a bell shaped curve with a
maximum at 10.5 GPa, well above the pressure for the suppression of the CDW
order. Changes in the band structure produce this shift in the maximum of
, demonstrating that 2H-NbSe shows important differences with
respect to other compounds where has a maximum in the temperature-density
phase diagram shaped by the suppression of another, non-superconducting, ground
state.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Small changes in discussion. Typos correcte
Magnetic field dependence of the density of states in the multiband superconductor -BiPd
We present very low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
experiments on single crystalline samples of the superconductor
-BiPd. We find a single fully isotropic superconducting gap.
However, the magnetic field dependence of the intervortex density of states is
higher than the one expected in a single gap superconductor, and the hexagonal
vortex lattice is locked to the square atomic lattice. Such increase in the
intervortex density of states and vortex lattice locking have been found in
superconductors with multiple superconducting gaps and anisotropic Fermi
surfaces. We compare the upper critical field obtained in our
sample with previous measurements and explain available data within multiband
supercondutivity. We propose that -BiPd is a single gap multiband
superconductor. We anticipate that single gap multiband superconductivity can
occur in other compounds with complex Fermi surfaces.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
High pressure phase diagrams of CeRhIn and CeCoIn studied by ac calorimetry
The pressure-temperature phase diagrams of the heavy fermion antiferromagnet
CeRhIn and the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn have been studied
under hydrostatic pressure by ac calorimetry and ac susceptibility measurements
using diamond anvil cells with argon as pressure medium. In CeRhIn, the use
of a highly hydrostatic pressure transmitting medium allows for a clean
simultaneous determination by a bulk probe of the antiferromagnetic and
superconducting transitions. We compare our new phase diagram with the previous
ones, discuss the nature (first or second order) of the various lines, and the
coexistence of antiferromagnetic order and superconductivity. The link between
the collaps of the superconducting heat anomaly and the broadening of the
antiferromagnetic transition points to an inhomogeneous appearence of
superconductivity below GPa. Homogeneous bulk
superconductivity is only observed above this critical pressure. We present a
detailed analysis of the influence of pressure inomogeneities on the specific
heat anomalies which emphasizes that the observed broadening of the transitions
near is connected with the first order transition. For CeCoIn we show
that the large specific heat anomaly observed at at ambient pressure is
suppressed linearly at least up to 3 GPa
Double superconducting transition in the filled skutterudite PrOs4Sb12 and sample characterizations
A thorough characterization of many samples of the filled skutterudite
compound PrOs4Sb12 is provided. We find that the double superconducting
transition in the specific heat Tc1~1.89K and Tc2~1.72K tends to appear in
samples with a large residual resistivity ratio, large specific heat jump at
the superconducting transition and with the highest absolute value of the
specific heat above Tc1. However, we present evidence which casts doubt on the
intrinsic nature of the double superconducting transition. The ratio of the two
specific heat jumps \Delta C(Tc1)/\Delta C(Tc2) shows a wide range of values on
crystals from different batches but also within the same batch. This ratio was
strongly reduced by polishing a sample down to 120um. Remarkably, three samples
exhibit a single sharp transition of ~15mK in width at Tc~1.7K. The normalized
specific heat jump (C-Cnormal)/Cnormal at Tc of two of them is higher than ~32%
so larger than the sum of the two specific heat jumps when a double transition
exists. As an evidence of better quality, the slope in the transition is at
least two time steeper.
We discuss the origins of the double transition; in particular we consider,
based on X-ray diffraction results, a scenario involving Pr-vacancies. The
superconducting phase diagram under magnetic field of a sample with a single
transition is fitted with a two-band model taking into account the good values
for the gap as deduced from thermal conductivity measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physical review
Evidence for Anisotropic Vortex Dynamics and Pauli Limitation in the Upper Critical Field of FeSe1-xTex
We have determined HC2(T) for FeSe1-xTex (x=0.52) single crystals using
resistivity measurements at high static and pulsed magnetic field, as well as
specific heat measurements up to 9T. We find that the significant anisotropy of
the initial slope of HC2(T) determined from resistivity measurements, is not
present when HC2 is determined from the specific heat results. This suggests
that the thermodynamic upper critical field is almost isotropic, and that
anisotropic vortex dynamics play a role. Further evidence of anisotropic vortex
dynamics is found in the behaviour in pulsed field. We also find that Pauli
limiting must be included in order to fit the temperature dependence of HC2,
indicating probably higher effective mass in FeSe1-xTex than in other Fe
superconductors
Pressure dependence of the magnetization of URu2Si2
The ground state of URu2Si2 changes from so-called hidden order (HO) to
large-moment antiferromagnetism (LMAF) upon applying hydrostatic pressure in
excess of 14 kbar. We report the dc-magnetization M(B,T,p) of URu2Si2 for
magnetic fields B up to 12 T, temperatures T in the range 2 to 100 K, and
pressure p up to 17 kbar. Remarkably, characteristic scales such as the
coherence temperature T*, the transition temperature T0, and the anisotropy in
the magnetization depend only weakly on the applied pressure. However, the
discontinuity in dM/dT at T0, which measures the magnetocaloric effect,
decreases nearly 50 % upon applying 17 kbar for M and B parallel to the
tetragonal c-axis, while it increases 15-fold for the a-axis. Our findings
suggest that the HO and LMAF phases have an astonishing degree of similarity in
their physical properties, but a key difference is the magnetocaloric effect
near T0 in the basal plane
Pressure dependence of the upper critical field of MgB2 and of YNi2B2C
We present measurements of H under pressure in MgB and in
YNiBC. The changes in the shape of H are interpreted within
current models and show the evolution of the main Fermi surface velocities
and electron-phonon coupling parameters with pressure. In
MgB the electron-phonon coupling strength of the nearly two dimensional
band, responsible for the high critical temperature, is more affected
by pressure than the band coupling, and the hole doping of the
band decreases. In YNiBC, the peculiar positive curvature of
H is weakened by pressure.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Magnetic Exciton Mediated Superconductivity in the Hidden-Order Phase of URu2Si2
We propose the magnetic exciton mediated superconductivity occurring in the
enigmatic hidden-order phase of URu2Si2. The characteristic of the massive
collective excitation observed only in the hidden-order phase is well
reproduced by the antiferro hexadecapole ordering model as the trace of the
dispersive crystalline-electric-field excitation. The disappearance of the
superconductivity in the high-pressure antiferro magnetic phase can naturally
be understood by the sudden suppression of the magnetic-exciton intensity. The
analysis of the momentum dependence of the magnetic-exciton mode leads to the
exotic chiral d-wave singlet pairing in the Eg symmetry. The Ising-like
magnetic-field response of the mode yields the strong anisotropy observed in
the upper critical field even for the rather isotropic 3-dimensional Fermi
surfaces of this compound.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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