First-Order Superconducting Transition of Sr2RuO4

Shingo Yonezawa; Tomohiro Kajikawa; Yoshiteru Maeno

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.077003

First-Order Superconducting Transition of Sr2RuO4

Superconductivity 2013-02-18 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons

Authors: Shingo Yonezawa , Tomohiro Kajikawa , Yoshiteru Maeno

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Abstract

By means of the magnetocaloric effect, we examine the nature of the superconducting-normal (S-N) transition of Sr2RuO4, a most promising candidate for a spin-triplet superconductor. We provide thermodynamic evidence that the S-N transition of this oxide is of first order below approximately 0.8 K and only for magnetic field directions very close to the conducting plane, in clear contrast to the ordinary type-II superconductors exhibiting second-order S-N transitions. The entropy release across the transition at 0.2 K is 10% of the normal-state entropy. Our result urges an introduction of a new mechanism to break superconductivity by magnetic field.

Keywords

first-order superconducting transition Sr2RuO4 magnetocaloric effect spin-triplet superconductor thermodynamic evidence entropy release type-II superconductor

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@article{arxiv.1212.4954,
  title  = {First-Order Superconducting Transition of Sr2RuO4},
  author = {Shingo Yonezawa and Tomohiro Kajikawa and Yoshiteru Maeno},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.4954},
  year   = {2013}
}

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13 pages (Main text: 5 pages; Supplemental Material: 8 pages). To be published in Physical Review Letters

First-Order Superconducting Transition of Sr2RuO4

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