Heavy fermion superconductor

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]

MaterialTC (K)commentsoriginal reference
CeCu2Si20.7first unconventional superconductor[1]
CeCoIn52.3highest TC of all Ce-based heavy fermions[2]
CePt3Si0.75first heavy-fermion superconductor with non-centrosymmetric crystal structure[3]
CeIn30.2superconducting only at high pressures[4]
UBe130.85p-wave superconductor[5]
UPt30.48several distinct superconducting phases[6]
URu2Si21.3mysterious 'hidden-order phase' below 17 K
UPd2Al32.0antiferromagnetic below 14 K[7]
UNi2Al31.1antiferromagnetic below 5 K[8]

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 (ΔC/C(TC) one knows that the Cooper pairs in the superconducting state are also formed by the heavy quasiparticles.[9] In contrast to normal superconductors it cannot be described by BCS-Theory. Due to the large effective mass,[10] 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.[11] In particular there has been evidence that CeCoIn5 close to the critical field is in an FFLO state.[12]

References
  1. Steglich, F.; Aarts, J.; Bredl, C.D.; Lieke, W.; Meschede, D.; Franz, W.; Schäfer, H. (1979). "Superconductivity in the Presence of Strong Pauli Paramagnetism: CeCu2Si2". Physical Review Letters. 43 (25): 1892–1896. Bibcode:1979PhRvL..43.1892S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.1892. hdl:1887/81461.
  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". Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 13 (17): L337. arXiv:cond-mat/0103168. Bibcode:2001JPCM...13L.337P. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/13/17/103.
  3. E. Bauer; et al. (2004). "Heavy Fermion Superconductivity and Magnetic Order in Noncentrosymmetric CePt3Si". Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 (2): 027003. arXiv:cond-mat/0308083. Bibcode:2004PhRvL..92b7003B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.027003. PMID 14753961.
  4. 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. Bibcode:1998Natur.394...39M. doi:10.1038/27838.
  5. Ott, H.R.; Rudigier, H.; Fisk, Z.; Smith, J.L. (1983). "UBe13: An Unconventional Actinide Superconductor" (Submitted manuscript). Phys. Rev. Lett. 50 (20): 1595. Bibcode:1983PhRvL..50.1595O. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.50.1595.
  6. Stewart, G.R.; Fisk, Z.; Willis, J.O.; Smith, J.L. (1984). "Possibility of Coexistence of Bulk Superconductivity and Spin Fluctuations in UPt3" (Submitted manuscript). Phys. Rev. Lett. 52 (8): 679. Bibcode:1984PhRvL..52..679S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.52.679.
  7. 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. (1991). "Heavy-fermion superconductivity at Tc=2K in the antiferromagnet UPd2Al3". Z. Phys. B. 84 (1): 1. Bibcode:1991ZPhyB..84....1G. doi:10.1007/BF01453750.
  8. Geibel, C.; Thies, S.; Kaczorowski, D.; Mehner, A.; Grauel, A.; Seidel, B.; Ahlheim, U.; Helfrich, R.; Petersen, K.; Bredl, C.D.; Steglich, F. (1991). "A new heavy-fermion superconductor: UNi2Al3". Z. Phys. B. 83 (3): 305. Bibcode:1991ZPhyB..83..305G. doi:10.1007/BF01313397.
  9. Neil W. Ashcroft and N. David Mermin, Solid State Physics
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
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