English

Coupling between heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ and antiferromagnetic metal CeIn$_3$ through the atomic interface

Superconductivity 2019-07-24 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

To study the mutual interaction between unconventional superconductivity and magnetic order through an interface, we fabricate Kondo superlattices consisting of alternating layers of heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5_5 and antiferromagnetic (AFM) heavy-fermion metal CeIn3_3. The strength of the AFM fluctuations is tuned by applying hydrostatic pressure to CeCoIn5(m)_5(m)/CeIn3(n)_3(n) superlattices with mm and nn unit-cell-thick layers of CeCoIn5_5 and CeIn3_3, respectively. Superconductivity in CeCoIn5_5 and AFM order in CeIn3_3 coexist in spatially separated layers. At ambient pressure, N\'{e}el temperature TNT_N of the CeIn3_3 block layers (BLs) of CeCoIn5_5(7)/CeIn3(n)_3(n) shows little dependence on nn, in contrast to CeIn3(n)_3(n)/LaIn3_3(4) superlattices where TNT_N is strongly suppressed with decreasing nn. This suggests that each CeIn3_3 BL is magnetically coupled by the RKKY interaction through the adjacent CeCoIn5_5 BL and a 3D magnetic state is formed. With applying pressure to CeCoIn5_5(7)/CeIn3_3(13), TNT_N of the CeIn3_3 BLs is suppressed up to 2.4 GPa, showing a similar pressure dependence as CeIn3_3 single crystals. An analysis of upper critical field reveals that the superconductivity in the CeCoIn5_5 BLs is barely influenced by the AFM fluctuations in the CeIn3_3 BLs, even when the CeIn3_3 BLs are in the vicinity of the AFM quantum critical point. This is in stark contrast to CeCoIn5_5/CeRhIn5_5 superlattice where the superconductivity in the CeCoIn5_5 BLs is profoundly affected by AFM fluctuations in the CeRhIn5_5 BLs. The present results show that although AFM fluctuations are injected into the CeCoIn5_5 BLs from the CeIn3_3 BLs through the interface, they barely affect the force which binds superconducting electron pairs. These results demonstrate that 2D AFM fluctuations are essentially important for the pairing interactions in CeCoIn5_5.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1904.06937,
  title  = {Coupling between heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ and antiferromagnetic metal CeIn$_3$ through the atomic interface},
  author = {M. Naritsuka and S. Nakamura and Y. Kasahara and T. Terashima and R. Peters and Y. Matsuda},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.06937},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

8 pages, 9 figures