We investigate the effect of substituting Si for Ge in the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe. Dc-magnetization, ac-susceptibility and electrical resistivity measurements on polycrystalline UCoGe1−xSix samples show that ferromagnetic order and superconductivity are progressively depressed with increasing Si content and simultaneously vanish at a critical concentration xcr≃0.12. The non-Fermi liquid temperature variation in the electrical resistivity near xcr and the smooth depression of the ordered moment point to a continuous ferromagnetic quantum phase transition. Superconductivity is confined to the ferromagnetic phase, which provides further evidence for magnetically mediated superconductivity.
@article{arxiv.0804.1891,
title = {Simultaneous suppression of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in UCoGe by Si substitution},
author = {D. E. de Nijs and N. T. Huy and A. de Visser},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.1891},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PRB