• Letter

Time-reversal symmetry breaking in the superconducting low carrier density quasiskutterudite Lu3Os4Ge13

A. Kataria, J. A. T. Verezhak, O. Prakash, R. K. Kushwaha, A. Thamizhavel, S. Ramakrishnan, M. S. Scheurer, A. D. Hillier, and R. P. Singh
Phys. Rev. B 107, L100506 – Published 30 March 2023

Abstract

The complex structure of the Remeika phases, the intriguing quantum states they display, and their low carrier concentrations are strong motivations to study the nature of their superconducting phases. In this Letter, the microscopic properties of the superconducting phase of single-crystalline Lu3Os4Ge13 are investigated by muon-spin relaxation and rotation (μSR) measurements. The zero-field μSR data reveal the presence of spontaneous static or quasistatic magnetic fields in the superconducting state, breaking time-reversal symmetry; the associated internal magnetic-field scale is found to be exceptionally large ( 0.11 mT). Furthermore, transverse-field μSR measurements in the vortex state of Lu3Os4Ge13 imply a complex gap function with significantly different strengths on different parts of the Fermi surface. Although our measurements do not completely determine the order parameter, they strongly indicate that electron-electron interactions are essential to stabilizing pairing in the system, thus, demonstrating its unconventional nature.

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  • Received 4 November 2022
  • Revised 9 March 2023
  • Accepted 17 March 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L100506

©2023 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

A. Kataria1, J. A. T. Verezhak2, O. Prakash3, R. K. Kushwaha1, A. Thamizhavel3, S. Ramakrishnan3, M. S. Scheurer4, A. D. Hillier5, and R. P. Singh1,*

  • 1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal 462066, India
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai-400005, India
  • 4Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
  • 5ISIS Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom

  • *rpsingh@iiserb.ac.in

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 10 — 1 March 2023

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