Pressure-temperature Phase Diagram of Polycrystalline UCoGe Studied by Resistivity Measurement

Recently, coexistence of ferromagnetism (T_Curie = 2.8K) and superconductivity (T_sc = 0.8K) has been reported in UCoGe, a compound close to a ferromagnetic instability at ambient pressure P. Here we present resistivity measurements under pressure on a UCoGe polycrystal. The phase diagram obtained from resistivity measurements on a polycrystalline sample is found to be qualitatively different to those of all other ferromagnetic superconductors. By applying high pressure, ferromagnetism is suppressed at a rate of 1.4 K/GPa. No indication of ferromagnetic order has been observed above P ~ 1GPa. The resistive superconducting transition is, however, quite stable in temperature and persists up to the highest measured pressure of about 2.4GPa. Superconductivity would therefore appear also in the paramagnetic phase. However, the appearance of superconductivity seems to change at a characteristic pressure P* ~ 0.8GPa. Close to a ferromagnetic instability, the homogeneity of the sample can influence strongly the electronic and magnetic properties and therefore bulk phase transitions may differ from the determination by resistivity measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Pressure-temperature phase diagram of ferromagnetic superconductors

The symmetry approach to the description of the (P,T) phase diagram of ferromagnet superconductors with triplet pairing is developed. Taking into account the recent experimental observations made on UCoGe it is considered the case of a crystal with orthorhombic structure and strong spin-orbital coupling. It is shown that formation of ferromagnet superconducting state from a superconducting state is inevitably accompanied by the first order type transition.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Extremely Large and Anisotropic Upper Critical Field and the Ferromagnetic Instability in UCoGe

Magnetoresistivity measurements with fine tuning of the field direction on high quality single crystals of the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe show anomalous anisotropy of the upper critical field H_c2. H_c2 for H // b-axis (H_c2^b) in the orthorhombic crystal structure is strongly enhanced with decreasing temperature with an S-shape and reaches nearly 20 T at 0 K. The temperature dependence of H_c2^a shows upward curvature with a low temperature value exceeding 30 T, while H_c2^c at 0 K is very small (~ 0.6 T). Contrary to conventional ferromagnets, the decrease of the Curie temperature with increasing field for H // b-axis marked by an enhancement of the effective mass of the conduction electrons appears to be the origin of the S-shaped H_c2^b curve. These results indicate that the field-induced ferromagnetic instability or magnetic quantum criticality reinforces superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Microscopic Coexistence of Ferromagnetism and Superconductivity in Single-Crystal UCoGe

Unambiguous evidence for the microscopic coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in UCoGe ($T_{\rm Curie} \sim 2.5$ K and $T_{\rm SC}$ $\sim$ 0.6 K) is reported from $^{59}$Co nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR). The $^{59}$Co-NQR signal below 1 K indicates ferromagnetism throughout the sample volume, while nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ in the ferromagnetic (FM) phase decreases below $T_{\rm SC}$ due to the opening of the superconducting(SC) gap. The SC state was found to be inhomogeneous, suggestive of a self-induced vortex state, potentially realizable in a FM superconductor. In addition, the $^{59}$Co-NQR spectrum around $T_{\rm Curie}$ show that the FM transition in UCoGe possesses a first-order character, which is consistent with the theoretical prediction that the low-temperature FM transition in itinerant magnets is generically of first-order.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Muon spin rotation and relaxation in the superconducting ferromagnet UCoGe

We report zero-field muon spin rotation and relaxation measurements on the superconducting ferromagnet UCoGe. Weak itinerant ferromagnetic order is detected by a spontaneous muon spin precession frequency below the Curie temperature $T_C = 3$ K. The $\mu^+$ precession frequency persists below the bulk superconducting transition temperature $T_{sc} = 0.5$ K, where it measures a local magnetic field $B_{loc} = 0.015$ T. The amplitude of the $\mu$SR signal provides unambiguous proof for ferromagnetism present in the whole sample volume. We conclude ferromagnetism coexists with superconductivity on the microscopic scale.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Upper critical field in superconductors near ferromagnetic quantum critical points; UCoGe

We study the strong-coupling superconductivity near ferromagnetic quantum critical points, mainly focusing on the upper critical fields $H_{c2}$. Based on our simple model calculations, we discuss experimentally observed unusual behaviors of $H_{c2}$ in a recently discovered ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe. Especially, the large anisotropy between $H_{c2}\parallel a$-axis and $H_{c2}\parallel c$-axis, and the strong-coupling behaviors in $H_{c2}^{\parallel a}$ are investigated. We also examine effects of non-analytic corrections in the spin susceptibility on the superconductivity, which can arise from effective long range interactions due to particle-hole excitations.Comment: Proceedings of ICHE2010, Toky

First Observation of Quantum Oscillations in the Ferromagnetic Superconductor UCoGe

We succeeded in growing high quality single crystals of the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe and measured the magnetoresistance at fields up to 34T. The Shubnikov-de Haas signal was observed for the first time in a U-111 system (UTGe, UTSi, T: transition metal). A small pocket Fermi surface (F~1kT) with large cyclotron effective mass 25m0 was detected at high fields above 22T, implying that UCoGe is a low carrier system accompanyed with heavy quasi-particles. The observed frequency decreases with increasing fields, indicating that the volume of detected Fermi surface changes nonlinearly with field. The cyclotron mass also decreases, which is consistent with the decrease of the A coefficient of resistivity.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Pressure Evolution of the Ferromagnetic and Field Re-entrant Superconductivity in URhGe

Fine pressure ($P$) and magnetic field ($H$) tuning on the ferromagnetic superconductor URhGe are reported in order to clarify the interplay between the mass enhancement, low field superconductivity (SC) and field reentrant superconductivity (RSC) by electrical resistivity measurements. With increasing $P$, the transition temperature and the upper critical field of the low field SC decrease slightly, while the RSC dome drastically shifts to higher fields and shrinks. The spin reorientation field $H_{\rm R}$ also increases. At a pressure $P\sim 1.8$ GPa, the RSC has collapsed while the low field SC persists and may disappear only above 4 GPa. Via careful $(P, H)$ studies of the inelastic $T^2$ resistivity term, it is demonstrated that this drastic change is directly related with the $P$ dependence of the effective mass which determines the critical field of the low field SC and RSC on the basis of triplet SC without Pauli limiting field.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Ferromagnetic Quantum Critical Fluctuations and Anomalous Coexistence of Ferromagnetism and Superconductivity in UCoGe Revealed by Co-NMR and NQR Studies

Co nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) studies were performed in the recently discovered UCoGe, in which the ferromagnetic and superconducting (SC) transitions were reported to occur at $T_{\rm Curie} \sim 3$ K and $T_S \sim 0.8$ K (N. T. Huy {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99} (2007) 067006), in order to investigate the coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity as well as the normal-state and SC properties from a microscopic point of view. From the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ and Knight-shift measurements, we confirmed that ferromagnetic fluctuations which possess a quantum critical character are present above $T_{\rm Curie}$ and the occurrence of ferromagnetic transition at 2.5 K in our polycrystalline sample. The magnetic fluctuations in the normal state show that UCoGe is an itinerant ferromagnet similar to ZrZn$_2$ and YCo$_2$. The onset SC transition was identified at $T_S \sim 0.7$ K, below which $1/T_1$ of 30 % of the volume fraction starts to decrease due to the opening of the SC gap. This component of $1/T_1$, which follows a $T^3$ dependence in the temperature range of $0.3 - 0.1$ K, coexists with the magnetic components of $1/T_1$ showing a $\sqrt{T}$ dependence below $T_S$. From the NQR measurements in the SC state, we suggest that the self-induced vortex state is realized in UCoGe.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures. submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp