Evidence for unconventional superconductivity in UPt3 from magnetic torque studies

Stephan Schöttl, Erwin A. Schuberth, Karol Flachbart, Jan B. Kycia, William P. Halperin, Alois A. Menovsky, E. Bucher, and J. Hufnagl
Phys. Rev. B 62, 4124 – Published 1 August 2000
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Abstract

We studied the anisotropic magnetic response of the internal superconducting phases of UPt3 and its anisotropic magnetic susceptibility with a capacitive torque meter which is very sensitive in high fields. Experiments were performed at temperatures down to 20 mK and at various angles between the c axis (hexagonal structure) and B, ranging from 16° to 82°. The samples were four single crystals grown with different methods and subjected to different annealing procedures. The normal state susceptibility has a maximum around 20 K for B in the ab plane which we followed up to 14 T. It may arise from hybridized uranium ion states split by the hexagonal crystal field. The magnetization curves in the superconducting (SC) regime show strong irreversibilities which are highly sample dependent. They are not correlated with the internal SC phase lines but continue up to a line of fields that lies parallel to the Bc2 curve and even follows its kink at the tetracritical point (T,B). In the cleanest sample this line is shifted to fields well below the BC internal phase line which then manifests itself in a pronounced kink of the magnetization curve indicating an enhanced Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ. In another sample the BC phase line between two of the three internal SC states could be detected even in the hysteretic region. The enhanced Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ means a larger penetration depth and/or a shorter coherence length, clear evidence for the unconventional character of the BC phase transition. With our cleanest sample we also observe an anomalous peak effect, a region of enhanced flux pinning near Bc2, which is probably related to the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state. In yet another sample we find a crossing of the up-down magnetization curves, also near Bc2, but with reversed orientation of the magnetization loops. We interpret this in terms of different flux pinning in the two main crystal directions, possibly in relation to the peak effect which is, however, masked in this sample by strong irreversibilities.

  • Received 30 September 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.62.4124

©2000 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Stephan Schöttl and Erwin A. Schuberth

  • Walther-Meissner-Institut für Tieftemperaturforschung, Walther-Meissner-Straße 8, D-85748 Garching, Germany

Karol Flachbart

  • Institute of Experimental Physics, SK-04353 Košice, Slovakia

Jan B. Kycia and William P. Halperin

  • Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208

Alois A. Menovsky

  • Van der Waals-Zeeman Laboratory, University of Amsterdam, Valckenierstraat 67, 1018 XE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

E. Bucher and J. Hufnagl

  • University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 62, Iss. 6 — 1 August 2000

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