English

Evidence for spin-triplet superconductivity in U$_2$PtC$_2$ from $^{195}$Pt NMR

Superconductivity 2015-06-24 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on the 195^{195}Pt nucleus in an aligned powder of the moderately heavy-fermion material U2PtC2 are consistent with spin-triplet pairing in its superconducting state. Across the superconducting transition temperature and to much lower temperatures, the NMR Knight shift is temperature independent for field both parallel and perpendicular to the tetragonal c-axis, expected for triplet equal-spin pairing superconductivity. The NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1_1, in the normal state, exhibits characteristics of ferromagnetic fluctuations, compatible with an enhanced Wilson ratio. In the superconducting state, 1/T1_1 follows a power law with temperature without a coherence peak giving additional support that U2_2PtC2_2 is an unconventional superconductor. Bulk measurements of the AC-susceptibility and resistivity indicate that the upper critical field exceeds the Pauli limiting field for spin-singlet pairing and is near the orbital limiting field, an additional indication for spin-triplet pairing.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1408.1969,
  title  = {Evidence for spin-triplet superconductivity in U$_2$PtC$_2$ from $^{195}$Pt NMR},
  author = {A. M. Mounce and H. Yasuoka and G. Koutroulakis and N. Ni and E. D. Bauer and F. Ronning and J. D. Thompson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.1969},
  year   = {2015}
}