Magnetic structure, phase diagram, and a new type of spin-flop transition dominated by higher order interaction in a localized 5f system U3Pd20Si6

The magnetic structure of the localized-5f uranium intermetallic compound U3Pd20Si6 has been determined by means of a neutron diffraction experiment. Our data demonstrate that this compound has a collinear coupling of the sublattice ordering of the uranium spins on the 4a and 8c sites. We conclude that higher-order exchange and/or quadrupole interactions are necessary to stabilize this unique collinear structure. We discovered a new type of spin-flop transition against the uniaxial anisotropy induced by this collinear coupling

Instability of Magnons in Two-dimensional Antiferromagnet at High Magnetic Fields

Spin dynamics of the square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, \BaMnGeO, is studied by a combination of bulk measurements, neutron diffraction, and inelastic neutron scattering techniques. Easy plane type antiferromagnetic order is identified at $T \le 4.0$ K. The exchange interactions are estimated as $J_1$ = 27.8(3)${\mu}$eV and $J_2$ = 1.0(1) ${\mu}$eV, and the saturation field $H_{\rm C}$ is 9.75 T. Magnetic excitation measurements with high experimental resolution setup by triple axis neutron spectrometer reveals the instability of one magnon excitation in the field range of $0.7H_{\rm C} \lesssim H \lesssim 0.85H_{\rm C}$.Comment: 5 pgase, 5 figuers, to be published in PRB R

Magnetic Excitations in NpCoGa5

We report the results of inelastic neutron scattering experiments on NpCoGa$_{5}$, an isostructural analogue of the PuCoGa$_{5}$ superconductor. Two energy scales characterize the magnetic response in the antiferromagnetic phase. One is related to a non-dispersive excitation between two crystal field levels. The other at lower energies corresponds to dispersive fluctuations emanating from the magnetic zone center. The fluctuations persist in the paramagnetic phase also, although weaker in intensity. This supports the possibility that magnetic fluctuations are present in PuCoGa$_{5}$, where unconventional d-wave superconductivity is achieved in the absence of magnetic order.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Reduction of Pauli paramagnetic pair-breaking effect in antiferromagnetic superconductors

Antiferromagnetic superconductors in a magnetic field are studied. We examine a mechanism which significantly reduces the Pauli paramagnetic pair-breaking effect. The mechanism is realized even in the presence of the orbital pair-breaking effect. We illustrate it using a three-dimensional model with an intercalated magnetic subsystem. The upper critical field is calculated for various parameters. It is shown that the upper critical field can reach several times the pure Pauli paramagnetic limit. The possible relevance to the large upper critical field observed in the heavy fermion antiferromagnetic superconductor CePt_3Si discovered recently is briefly discussed. We try to understand the large upper critical field in the compound CePt_3Si and field-induced superconductivity in the compound CePb_3 within a unified framework.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, revtex4, minor correction

Emergent Nodal Excitations due to the Coexistence of Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism: Cases with and without Inversion Symmetry

We argue the emergence of nodal excitations due to the coupling with static antiferromagnetic order in fully-gapped superconducting states in both cases with and without inversion symmetry. This line node structure is not accompanied with the sign change of the superconducting gap, in contrast to usual unconventional Cooper pairs with higher angular momenta. In the case without inversion symmetry, the stability of the nodal excitations crucially depends on the direction of the antiferromagnetic staggered magnetic moment. A possible realization of this phenomenon in CePt$_3$Si is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Nodal Structure of Unconventional Superconductors Probed by the Angle Resolved Thermal Transport Measurements

Over the past two decades, unconventional superconductivity with gap symmetry other than s-wave has been found in several classes of materials, including heavy fermion (HF), high-T_c, and organic superconductors. Unconventional superconductivity is characterized by anisotropic superconducting gap functions, which may have zeros (nodes) along certain directions in the Brillouin zone. The nodal structure is closely related to the pairing interaction, and it is widely believed that the presence of nodes is a signature of magnetic or some other exotic, rather than conventional phonon-mediated, pairing mechanism. Therefore experimental determination of the gap function is of fundamental importance. However, the detailed gap structure, especially the direction of the nodes, is an unresolved issue in most unconventional superconductors. Recently it has been demonstrated that the thermal conductivity and specific heat measurements under magnetic field rotated relative to the crystal axes are a powerful method for determining the shape of the gap and the nodal directions in the bulk. Here we review the theoretical underpinnings of the method and the results for the nodal structure of several unconventional superconductors, including borocarbide YNi$_2$B$_2$C, heavy fermions UPd$_2$Al$_3$, CeCoIn$_5$, and PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$, organic superconductor, $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu(NCS)$_2$, and ruthenate Sr$_2$RuO$_4$, determined by angular variation of the thermal conductivity and heat capacity.Comment: topical review, 55 pages, 35 figures. Figure quality has been reduced for submission to cond-mat, higher quality figures available from the authors or from the publishe

Phase Ordering Kinetics of One-Dimensional Non-Conserved Scalar Systems

We consider the phase-ordering kinetics of one-dimensional scalar systems. For attractive long-range ($r^{-(1+\sigma)}$) interactions with $\sigma>0$, ``Energy-Scaling'' arguments predict a growth-law of the average domain size $L \sim t^{1/(1+\sigma)}$ for all $\sigma >0$. Numerical results for $\sigma=0.5$, $1.0$, and $1.5$ demonstrate both scaling and the predicted growth laws. For purely short-range interactions, an approach of Nagai and Kawasaki is asymptotically exact. For this case, the equal-time correlations scale, but the time-derivative correlations break scaling. The short-range solution also applies to systems with long-range interactions when $\sigma \rightarrow \infty$, and in that limit the amplitude of the growth law is exactly calculated.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex 3.0, 8 FIGURES UPON REQUEST, 1549