Boron isotope effect in single crystals of ErNi$_2$B$_2$C superconductor

Abstract

The influence of local moment magnetism on the boron isotope effect of T$_c$ was studied on single crystals of ErNi$_2$B$_2$C. Values of the partial isotope effect exponent of $\alpha_B$=0.10$\pm$0.02 and $\alpha_B$=0.10$\pm$0.04 were obtained based on two different criteria applied to extract $T_c$. No significant change in the partial isotope effect exponent compared to the ones obtained for LuNi$_2$B$_2$C was observed. Based on this result we conclude that pair-breaking due to the Er local magnetic moment appears to have no detectable influence on boron isotope effect of T$_c$.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure