Specific Heat of CeRhIn₅: Pressure-Driven Transition from Antiferromagnetism to Heavy-Fermion Superconductivity

Authors: Fisher R.A.¹; Bouquet F.¹; Phillips N.E.¹; Hundley M.F.²; Pagliuso P.G.²; Sarrao J.L.²; Fisk Z.³; Thompson J.D.²

Source: Journal of Superconductivity: Incorporating Novel Magnetism, Volume 15, Number 5, October 2002 , pp. 433-438(6)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

CeRhIn₅ is known to show an unusual transition at a critical pressure of sim 15 kbar. Specific-heat data show a gradual change in the zero-field “magnetic” specific-heat anomaly from one typical of antiferromagnetic ordering at ambient pressure to one more characteristic of a Kondo singlet ground state at 21 kbar. However, at 15 kbar there is a discontinuous change from an antiferromagnetic ground state to a superconducting ground state, and evidence of a weak thermodynamic first-order transition. Above the critical pressure, the low-energy excitations are characteristic of superconductivity with line nodes in the energy gap, and, at intermediate pressures, of extended gaplessness.

Keywords: specific heat; pressure-driven transition; antiferromagnetism; superconductivity; heavy fermion

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 2: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 3: NHMFL, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306

Publication date: 2002-10-01