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Broken time-reversal symmetry probed by muon spin relaxation in the caged type superconductor Lu5Rh6Sn18

A. Bhattacharyya, D. T. Adroja, J. Quintanilla, A. D. Hillier, N. Kase, A. M. Strydom, and J. Akimitsu
Phys. Rev. B 91, 060503(R) – Published 10 February 2015
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Abstract

The superconducting state of the caged type compound Lu5Rh6Sn18 has been investigated by using magnetization, heat capacity, and muon spin relaxation or rotation (μSR) measurements, and the results interpreted on the basis of the group theoretical classifications of the possible pairing symmetries and a simple model of the resulting quasiparticle spectra. Our zero-field μSR measurements clearly reveal the spontaneous appearance of an internal magnetic field below the transition temperature, which indicates that the superconducting state in this material is characterized by broken time-reversal symmetry. Further, the analysis of the temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth measured using the transverse-field μSR measurements suggests an isotropic swave character for the superconducting gap. This is in agreement with the heat capacity behavior, and we show that it can be interpreted in terms of a nonunitary triplet state with point nodes and an open Fermi surface.

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  • Received 10 September 2014
  • Revised 19 January 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.060503

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Bhattacharyya1,2,*, D. T. Adroja1,2,†, J. Quintanilla1,3, A. D. Hillier1, N. Kase4, A. M. Strydom2,5, and J. Akimitsu4

  • 1ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot Oxon OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 2Highly Correlated Matter Research Group, Physics Department, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
  • 3SEPnet and Hubbard Theory Consortium, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NH, United Kingdom
  • 4Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama-Gakuin University, Fuchinobe 5-10-1, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5258, Japan
  • 5Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, D-01187 Dresden, Germany

  • *amitava.bhattacharyya@stfc.ac.uk
  • devashibhai.adroja@stfc.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 6 — 1 February 2015

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