Spatially modulated heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeIrIn5
Abstract
The ability to spatially modulate the electronic properties of solids has led to landmark discoveries in condensed matter physics as well as new electronic applications. Although crystals of strongly correlated metals exhibit a diverse set of electronic ground states, few approaches to spatially modulating their properties exist. Here we demonstrate spatial control over the superconducting state in mesoscale samples of the canonical heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn5. We use a focused ion beam (FIB) to pattern crystals on the microscale, which tailors the strain induced by differential thermal contraction into specific areas of the device. The resulting non-uniform strain fields induce complex patterns of superconductivity due to the strong dependence of the transition temperature on the strength and direction of strain. Electrical transport and magnetic imaging of devices with different geometry show that the obtained spatial modulation of superconductivity agrees with predictions based on finite element simulations. These results present a generic approach to manipulating electronic order on micrometer length scales in strongly correlated matter.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1807.05079,
title = {Spatially modulated heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeIrIn5},
author = {Maja D. Bachmann and G. M. Ferguson and Florian Theuss and Tobias Meng and Carsten Putzke and Toni Helm and K. R. Shirer and You-Sheng Li and K. A. Modic and Michael Nicklas and Markus Koenig and D. Low and Sayak Ghosh and Andrew P. Mackenzie and Frank Arnold and Elena Hassinger and Ross D. McDonald and Laurel E. Winter and Eric D. Bauer and Filip Ronning and B. J. Ramshaw and Katja C. Nowack and Philip J. W. Moll},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.05079},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
29 pages, 14 figures