Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Normal-state and superconducting properties of the heavy-fermion compound UBe/sub 13/ in magnetic fields

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)
Low-temperature measurements (200 mK< or approx. =T< or approx. =18 K) of the specific heat C(T) of polycrystalline UBe/sub 13/ show that the normal-state electronic specific heat C/sub n/(T/sub c/)/T/sub c/ remains virtually constant at applied magnetic fields of B = 1, 2, 4, and 8. Suggestions to explain the maintenance of the entropy balance between the normal and the superconducting state are discussed. With B = 13 T, C(T) is decreased below 3 K compared to the zero-field data, and increased above this temperature. The entropy of the electron system increases linearly above 10 K without indication of saturation. The sharp discontinuity of C(T) at the transition to the superconducting state and the large dc Meissner effect measured in the same compound suggest that UBe/sub 13/ is a very homogeneous superconductor (B/sub c/2(0)apeq210 T). From isothermal magnetization measurements at T = 100 mK, we obtain B/sub c/1apeq24.4 mT and, for the Ginzburg-Landau parameter, kappaapeq2100.
Research Organization:
Institut fuer Festkoerperphysik, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, D-6100 Darmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany
OSTI ID:
6121747
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States) Vol. 33:5; ISSN PRBMD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English