Heavy fermion superconductor explained

Heavy fermion superconductors are a type of unconventional superconductor.

The first heavy fermion superconductor, CeCu2Si2, was discovered by Frank Steglich in 1978.[1]

Since then over 30 heavy fermion superconductors were found (in materials based on Ce, U), with a critical temperature up to 2.3 K (in CeCoIn5).[2]

Material TC (K) comments original reference
CeCu2Si2 0.7 first unconventional superconductor
2.3 highest TC of all Ce-based heavy fermions
CePt3Si 0.75 first heavy-fermion superconductor with non-centrosymmetric crystal structure [3]
CeIn3 0.2 superconducting only at high pressures [4]
UBe13 0.85 p-wave superconductor [5]
0.48 several distinct superconducting phases [6]
1.3 mysterious 'hidden-order phase' below 17 K [7]
2.0 antiferromagnetic below 14 K [8]
UNi2Al3 1.1 antiferromagnetic below 5 K [9]

Heavy fermion materials are intermetallic compounds, containing rare earth or actinide elements. The f-electrons of these atoms hybridize with the normal conduction electrons leading to quasiparticles with an enhanced effective mass.

From specific heat measurements

\DeltaC/C(T\rm)

one knows that the Cooper pairs in the superconducting state are also formed by the heavy quasiparticles.[10] In contrast to normal superconductors it cannot be described by BCS theory. Due to the large effective mass,[11] the Fermi velocity is reduced and comparable to the inverse Debye frequency. This leads to the failing of the picture of electrons polarizing the lattice as an attractive force.

Some heavy fermion superconductors are candidate materials for the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase.[12] In particular there has been evidence that CeCoIn5 close to the critical field is in an FFLO state.[13]

Notes and References

  1. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.1892. Superconductivity in the Presence of Strong Pauli Paramagnetism: CeCu2Si2. 1979. Steglich. F.. J.. Physical Review Letters. 43. 25. 1892–1896. Aarts. Bredl. C.D.. Lieke. W.. Meschede. D.. Franz. W.. Schäfer. H.. 1979PhRvL..43.1892S. 1887/81461. 123497750 . free.
  2. 10.1088/0953-8984/13/17/103. Heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeCoIn5 at 2.3 K. 2001. Petrovic. C.. Pagliuso. P.G.. Hundley. M.F.. Movshovich. R.. John Sarrao. Sarrao. J.L.. Thompson. J.D.. Fisk. Z.. Monthoux. P.. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 13. 17. L337. cond-mat/0103168 . 2001JPCM...13L.337P . 59148857 .
  3. E. Bauer . 2004 . Heavy Fermion Superconductivity and Magnetic Order in Noncentrosymmetric CePt3Si . Phys. Rev. Lett. . 92. 2 . 027003 . 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.027003 . 14753961 . etal. cond-mat/0308083 . 2004PhRvL..92b7003B . 20007050 .
  4. 10.1038/27838. Magnetically mediated superconductivity in heavy fermion compounds . 1998. Mathur. N.D. . Grosche. F.M. . Julian. S.R. . Walker. I.R. . Freye. D.M. . Haselwimmer. R.K.W. . Lonzarich. G.G.. Nature. 394. 6688 . 39 . 1998Natur.394...39M. 52837444 .
  5. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.50.1595 . UBe13: An Unconventional Actinide Superconductor. 1983. Phys. Rev. Lett.. 50. 20. 1595 . Ott. H.R. . Fisk. Z. . Rudigier. H. . Smith. J.L.. 1983PhRvL..50.1595O.
  6. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.52.679. Possibility of Coexistence of Bulk Superconductivity and Spin Fluctuations in UPt3 . 1984. Stewart. G.R. . Fisk. Z. . Willis. J.O. . Smith. J.L. . Phys. Rev. Lett.. 52. 8 . 679 . 1984PhRvL..52..679S. 73591098 .
  7. Palstra, T. T. M. and Menovsky, A. A. and Berg, J. van den and Dirkmaat, A. J. and Kes, P. H. and Nieuwenhuys, G. J. and Mydosh, J. A. . 1985. Superconducting and Magnetic Transitions in the Heavy-Fermion System URu2Si2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. . 55. 24 . 2727–2730. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.55.2727 . 10032222 . 1985PhRvL..55.2727P .
  8. Z. Phys. B . 10.1007/BF01453750. Heavy-fermion superconductivity at Tc=2K in the antiferromagnet UPd2Al3. 1991. 84. 1. 1. Geibel. C. . Schank. C. . Thies. S.. Kitazawa. H.. Bredl. C.D.. Böhm. A.. Rau. M.. Grauel. A.. Caspary. R.. Helfrich. R. . Ahlheim. U.. Weber. G.. Steglich. F.. 1991ZPhyB..84....1G. 121939561.
  9. Z. Phys. B . 10.1007/BF01313397. A new heavy-fermion superconductor: UNi2Al3. 1991. 83. 3. 305. Geibel. C. . Thies. S.. Kaczorowski. D.. Mehner. A.. Grauel. A.. Seidel. B.. Ahlheim. U.. Helfrich. R.. Petersen. K.. Bredl. C.D.. Steglich. F.. 1991ZPhyB..83..305G. 121206896.
  10. Neil W. Ashcroft and N. David Mermin, Solid State Physics
  11. 10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1551. Superconducting phases of f -electron compounds. 2009. Pfleiderer. C.. Reviews of Modern Physics. 81. 4. 1551–1624. 2009RvMP...81.1551P. 0905.2625 . 119218693 .
  12. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.. 10.1143/JPSJ.76.051005. Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov State in Heavy Fermion Superconductors. 2007. 76. 5. 051005. Matsuda. Yuji. Shimahara. Hiroshi. cond-mat/0702481 . 2007JPSJ...76e1005M . 119429977.
  13. Phys. Rev. Lett.. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.187004. 14611309. Possible Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov State in CeCoIn5. 2003. 91. 18. 187004. Bianchi. A.. Movshovich. R.. Capan. C.. Pagliuso. P.G.. Sarrao. J.L.. 2003PhRvL..91r7004B. cond-mat/0304420 . 25005211.

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