Specific Heat of CeRhIn5: Pressure-Driven Evolution of the Ground State from Antiferromagnetism to Superconductivity


Abstract in English

Measurements of the specific heat of antiferromagnetic CeRhIn5, to 21 kbar, and for 21 kbar to 70 kOe, show a discontinuous change from an antiferromagnetic ground state below 15 kbar to a superconducting ground state above, and suggest that it is accompanied by a weak thermodynamic first-order transition. Bulk superconductivity appears, apparently with d-wave electron pairing, at the critical pressure, 15 kbar; with further increase in pressure a residual temperature-proportional term in the specific heat disappears.

Download