TY - JOUR
T1 - Pairing symmetry of an intermediate valence superconductor CeIr3 investigated using μsR measurements
AU - Adroja, D. T.
AU - Bhattacharyya, A.
AU - Sato, Y. J.
AU - Lees, M. R.
AU - Biswas, P. K.
AU - Panda, K.
AU - Anand, V. K.
AU - Stenning, Gavin B.G.
AU - Hillier, A. D.
AU - Aoki, D.
N1 - Funding Information:
A.B. would like to thank DST India for an Inspire Faculty Research Grant (DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000169) and Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) for a CRG Research Grant (CRG/2020/000698). D.T.A. and A.D.H. would like to acknowledge the CMPC-STFC, Grant No. CMPC-09108). D.T.A. is grateful to the JSPS for an invitation fellowship and the Royal Society of London for the International Exchange funding between UK and Japan. as well as Newton Advanced Fellowship funding between UK and China. K.P. would like to acknowledge DST India for an Inspire Fellowship (IF170620).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Physical Society.
PY - 2021/3/22
Y1 - 2021/3/22
N2 - We have investigated the bulk and microscopic properties of the rhombohedral intermediate valence superconductor CeIr3 by employing magnetization, heat capacity, and muon spin rotation and relaxation (μSR) measurements. The magnetic susceptibility indicates bulk superconductivity below TC=3.1K. Heat capacity data also reveal a bulk superconducting transition at 3.1 K with a second weak anomaly near 1.6 K. Zero-field μSR data show no strong evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry but support the presence of spin fluctuations below TC. Transverse-field μSR measurements suggest a fully gapped, isotropic, s-wave superconductivity with 2Δ(0)/kBTC=3.76(3), very close to 3.53, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer gap value for weak-coupling superconductors. From the temperature variation of the magnetic penetration depth, we have also determined the London penetration depth λL(0)=435(2)nm, the carrier effective-mass enhancement m∗=1.69(1)me, and the superconducting carrier density ns=2.5(1)×1027 carriers m-3. The fact that LaIr3, with no 4f electrons, and CeIr3 with 4fn electrons where n≤1 (Ce ion in a valence fluctuating state), both exhibit the same s-wave gap symmetry indicates that the Ir-d band governs the physics of these two compounds near the Fermi level, which is in agreement with previous band structure calculations.
AB - We have investigated the bulk and microscopic properties of the rhombohedral intermediate valence superconductor CeIr3 by employing magnetization, heat capacity, and muon spin rotation and relaxation (μSR) measurements. The magnetic susceptibility indicates bulk superconductivity below TC=3.1K. Heat capacity data also reveal a bulk superconducting transition at 3.1 K with a second weak anomaly near 1.6 K. Zero-field μSR data show no strong evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry but support the presence of spin fluctuations below TC. Transverse-field μSR measurements suggest a fully gapped, isotropic, s-wave superconductivity with 2Δ(0)/kBTC=3.76(3), very close to 3.53, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer gap value for weak-coupling superconductors. From the temperature variation of the magnetic penetration depth, we have also determined the London penetration depth λL(0)=435(2)nm, the carrier effective-mass enhancement m∗=1.69(1)me, and the superconducting carrier density ns=2.5(1)×1027 carriers m-3. The fact that LaIr3, with no 4f electrons, and CeIr3 with 4fn electrons where n≤1 (Ce ion in a valence fluctuating state), both exhibit the same s-wave gap symmetry indicates that the Ir-d band governs the physics of these two compounds near the Fermi level, which is in agreement with previous band structure calculations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103833179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103833179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104514
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104514
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103833179
VL - 103
JO - Physical Review B
JF - Physical Review B
SN - 2469-9950
IS - 10
M1 - 104514
ER -