Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userTime Reversal Symmetry Breaking in the B Phase of the Heavy Fermion Superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$
114
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present polar Kerr effect measurements of the filled skutterudite superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$. Simultaneous AC susceptibility measurements allow us to observe the superconducting transition under the influence of heating from the optical beam. A nonzero Kerr angle $theta_K$ develops below the superconducting transition, saturating at $sim 300$ nrad at low temperatures. This result is repeated across several measurements of multiple samples. By extrapolating the measured $theta_K(T)$ to zero optical power, we are able to show that the Kerr angle onset temperature in one set of measurements is consistent with the transition to the B phase at $T_{C2}$. We discuss the possible explanations for this result and its impact on the understanding of multi-phase and inhomogeneous superconductivity in PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$.
rate research
Read More
The filled skutterudite compound PrOsSb{} exhibits superconductivity below a critical temperature $T_mathrm{c} = 1.85$ K that develops out of a nonmagnetic heavy Fermi liquid with an effective mass $m^{*} approx 50 m_mathrm{e}$, where $m_mathrm{e}$ is the free electron mass. Analysis of magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, electrical resistivity and inelastic neutron scattering measurements within the context of a cubic crystalline electric field yields a Pr$^{3+}$ energy level scheme that consists of a $Gamma_{3}$ nonmagnetic doublet ground state that carries an electric quadrupole moment, a low lying $Gamma_{5}$ triplet excited state at $sim 10$ K, and $Gamma_{4}$ triplet and $Gamma_{1}$ singlet excited states at much higher temperatures. The superconducting state appears to be unconventional and to consist of two distinct superconducting phases. An ordered phase of magnetic or quadrupolar origin occurs at high fields and low temperatures, suggesting that the superconductivity may occur in the vicinity of a magnetic or electric quadrupolar quantum critical point.
We have investigated the de Haas-van Alphen effect in the Pr-based heavy fermion superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$.The topology of Fermi surface is close to the reference compound LaOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$ and well explained by the band structure calculation based on the FLAPW-LDA+U method, where the 4{it f} electrons are localized. We have confirmed a highly enhanced cyclotron effective mass 2.4$sim7.6m_{rm 0}$ which is apparently large compared to the usual Pr-based compounds.
We have measured the electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, Hall coefficient, and magnetoresistance (MR) on single crystals of PrOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$, LaOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ and NdOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$. All the transport properties in PrOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ are similar to those in LaOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ and NdOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ at high temperatures, indicating the localized character of 4$f$-electrons. The transverse MR both in LaOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ and PrOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ tends to saturate for wide field directions, indicating these compounds to be uncompensated metals with no open orbit. We have determined the phase diagram of the field induced ordered phase by the MR measurement for all the principle field directions, which indicates an unambiguous evidence for the $Gamma_{rm 1}$ singlet crystalline electric field ground state.
Thermal conductivity measurements were performed on single crystal samples of the superconducting filled skutterudite compounds PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$ and PrRu$_4$Sb$_{12}$ both as a function of temperature and magnetic field applied perpendicular to the heat current. In zero magnetic field, the low temperature electronic thermal conductivity of PrRu$_4$Sb$_{12}$ is vanishingly small, consistent with a fully-gapped Fermi surface. For PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$, however, we find clear evidence for residual electronic conduction as the temperature tends to zero Kelvin which is consistent with the presence of nodes in the superconducting energy gap. The field dependence of the electronic conductivity for both compounds shows a rapid rise immediately above H$_{c1}$ and significant structure over the entire vortex state. In the fully gapped superconductor PrRu$_4$Sb$_{12}$, this is interpreted in terms of multi-band effects. In PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$, we consider the Doppler shift of nodal quasiparticles at low fields and multiband effects at higher fields.
We report inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed to investigate the low energy magnetic excitations on single crystals of the heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$. The observed excitation clearly softens at a wave vector Q = (1,0,0), which is the same as the modulation vector of the field-induced antiferro-quadrupolar ordering, and its intensity at Q = (1,0,0) is smaller than that around the zone center. This result directly evidences that this excitonic behavior is derived mainly from nonmagnetic quadrupolar interactions. Furthermore, the narrowing of the linewidths of the excitations below the superconducting transition temperature indicates the close connection between the superconductivity and the excitons.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
