CeCoIn5

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CeCoIn5 ("Cerium-Cobalt-Indium 5") is a heavy-fermion superconductor with a layered crystal structure, with somewhat two-dimensional electronic transport properties. [1] The critical temperature of 2.3 K is the highest among all of the Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductors. [2]

Contents

Material system

CeCoIn5 is a member of a rich family of heavy-fermion compounds. [3] [4] CeIn3 is heavy-fermion metal with cubic crystal structure that orders antiferromagnetically below 10K. With applying external pressure, antiferromagnetism in CeIn3 is continuously suppressed, and a superconducting dome emerges in the phase diagram near the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point. [5] CeCoIn5 has a tetragonal crystal structure, and the unit cell of CeCoIn5 can be considered as 'CeIn3 with an additional CoIn2 layer per unit cell'. Closely related to CeCoIn5 is the heavy-fermion material CeRhIn5, which has the same crystal structure and which orders antiferromagnetically below 4K, but does not become superconducting at ambient pressure. At high pressure CeRhIn5 becomes superconducting with a maximum Tc slightly above 2 K at a pressure around 2 GPa, [6] and at the same pressure the Fermi surface of CeRhIn5 changes [7] suggesting so-called local quantum criticality. Also the compound PuCoGa5, which is a superconductor with Tc approximately 18.5 K and which can be considered an intermediate between heavy-fermion and cuprate superconductors, has the same crystal structure. [8] [9]

Growth of single-crystalline CeCoIn5 has been very successful soon after the discovery of the material, and large single crystals of CeCoIn5, such as required for inelastic neutron scattering, have been prepared. (In contrast to some other heavy-fermion compounds where single-crystal growth is more challenging.)

Superconducting properties

The upper critical magnetic field Hc2 of the superconducting state of CeCoIn5 is anisotropic, in accordance with the crystal structure and other physical properties. For magnetic fields applied along the [100] direction, Hc2 amounts to approximately 11.6 T, and Hc2 for fields along the [001] directions to 4.95 T. [10]

The superconducting order parameter has d-wave symmetry, as established by several experiments, [11] [12] such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS). [13]

Detailed studies close to the critical field have been performed on CeCoIn5, and indications were found that certain regimes in the phase diagram of this material should be interpreted in terms of the Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase. [10] [1] Subsequently, the neutron-diffraction experiments showed that this regime features a more complex phase that also exhibits incommensurate antiferromagnetic order, a so-called 'Q phase'. [14]

Evidence for a delocalization quantum phase transition without symmetry breaking is presented. [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 Matsuda, Yuji; Shimahara, Hiroshi (2007). "Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov State in Heavy Fermion Superconductors". J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 76 (5): 051005. arXiv: cond-mat/0702481 . Bibcode:2007JPSJ...76e1005M. doi:10.1143/JPSJ.76.051005. S2CID   119429977.
  2. ↑ Petrovic, C.; Pagliuso, P.G.; Hundley, M.F.; Movshovich, R.; Sarrao, J.L.; Thompson, J.D.; Fisk, Z.; Monthoux, P. (2001). "Heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeCoIn5 at 2.3 K". J. Phys.: Condens. Matter. 13 (17): L337–L342. arXiv: cond-mat/0103168 . Bibcode:2001JPCM...13L.337P. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/13/17/103. S2CID   59148857.
  3. ↑ Thompson, J.D.; Nicklas, M.; Bianchi, A.; Movshovich, R.; Llobet, A.; Bao, W.; Malinowski, A.; Hundley, M.F.; Moreno, N.O.; Pagliuso, P.G.; Sarrao, J.L.; Nakatsuji, S.; Fisk, Z.; Borth, R.; Lengyel, E.; Oeschler, N.; Sparn, G.; Steglich, F. (2003). "Magnetism and unconventional superconductivity in CenMmIn3n+2m heavy-fermion crystals". Physica B. 329–333: 446–449. arXiv: cond-mat/0209115 . Bibcode:2003PhyB..329..446T. doi:10.1016/S0921-4526(02)01987-7. S2CID   119105150.
  4. ↑ Pfleiderer, C. (2009). "Superconducting phases of f -electron compounds". Reviews of Modern Physics. 81 (4): 1551–1624. arXiv: 0905.2625 . Bibcode:2009RvMP...81.1551P. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1551. S2CID   119218693.
  5. ↑ Mathur, N.D.; Grosche, F.M.; Julian, S.R.; Walker, I.R.; Freye, D.M.; Haselwimmer, R.K.W.; Lonzarich, G.G. (1998). "Magnetically mediated superconductivity in heavy fermion compounds". Nature. 394 (6688): 39–43. Bibcode:1998Natur.394...39M. doi:10.1038/27838. S2CID   52837444.
  6. ↑ Hegger, H.; Petrovic, C.; Moshopoulou, E.G.; Hundley, M.F.; Sarrao, J.L.; Fisk, Z.; Thompson, J.D. (2000). "Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Quasi-2D CeRhIn5". Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (21): 4986–4989. Bibcode:2000PhRvL..84.4986H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4986. PMID   10990848. S2CID   11609334.
  7. ↑ Shishido, Hiroaki; Sattai, Rikio; Harima, Hisatomo; Ōnuki, Yoshichika (2005). "A Drastic Change of the Fermi Surface at a Critical Pressure in CeRhIn5: dHvA Study under Pressure". J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74 (4): 1103–1106. Bibcode:2005JPSJ...74.1103S. doi:10.1143/JPSJ.74.1103.
  8. ↑ J. L. Sarrao et al., Nature 420 297 (2002) 'Plutonium-based superconductivity with a transition temperature above 18 K'
  9. ↑ Bauer, E.D.; Thompson, J.D. (2015). "Plutonium-Based Heavy-Fermion Systems". Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 6: 137–153. arXiv: 1601.06329 . Bibcode:2015ARCMP...6..137B. doi:10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031214-014508. S2CID   119303493.
  10. 1 2 Bianchi, A.; Movshovich, R.; Capan, C.; Pagliuso, P.G.; Sarrao, J.L. (2003). "Possible Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov State in CeCoIn5". Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 (18): 187004. arXiv: cond-mat/0304420 . Bibcode:2003PhRvL..91r7004B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.187004. PMID   14611309. S2CID   25005211.
  11. ↑ Kohori, Y.; et al. (2001). "NMR and NQR studies of the heavy fermion superconductors CeTIn5(T=Co and Ir)". Phys. Rev. B. 64 (13): 134526. Bibcode:2001PhRvB..64m4526K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.134526.
  12. ↑ Izawa, K.; et al. (2001). "Angular Position of Nodes in the Superconducting Gap of Quasi-2D Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5". Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (5): 057002. arXiv: cond-mat/0104225 . Bibcode:2001PhRvL..87e7002I. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.057002. PMID   11497799. S2CID   2738552.
  13. ↑ B. B. Zhou et al., Nature Physics 9, 474–479 (2013) 'Visualizing nodal heavy fermion superconductivity in CeCoIn5'
  14. ↑ Kenzelmann, M.; Gerber, S.; Gavilano, J.L.; Strässle, T.; Bianchi, A.D.; Ressouche, E.; Movshovich, R.; Bauer; Sarrao, J.L.; Thompson, J.D. (2010). "Evidence for a Magnetically Driven Superconducting Q Phase of CeCoIn5". Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (12): 127001. Bibcode:2010PhRvL.104l7001K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.127001. PMID   20366558.
  15. ↑ Maksimovic, Nikola; Eilbott, Daniel H.; Cookmeyer, Tessa; Wan, Fanghui; Rusz, Jan; Nagarajan, Vikram; Haley, Shannon C.; Maniv, Eran; Gong, Amanda; Faubel, Stefano; Hayes, Ian M. (2022). "Evidence for a delocalization quantum phase transition without symmetry breaking in CeCoIn5". Science. 375 (6576): 76–81. Bibcode:2022Sci...375...76M. doi:10.1126/science.aaz4566. OSTI   1856508. PMID   34855511. S2CID   245828322.
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