Quantum critical quasiparticle scattering within the superconducting state of
Here, the thermal conductivity κ of the heavy-fermion metal CeCoIn 5 was measured in the normal and superconducting states as a function of temperature T and magnetic field H, for a current and field parallel to the [100] direction. Inside the superconducting state, when the field is lower than the upper critical field H c2, κ/T is found to increase as T→0, just as in a metal and in contrast to the behavior of all known superconductors. This is due to unpaired electrons on part of the Fermi surface, which dominate the transport above a certain field. The evolution of κ/T with field reveals that the electron-electron scattering (or transport mass m*) of those unpaired electrons diverges as H→H c2 from below, in the same way that it does in the normal state as H→H c2 from above. This shows that the unpaired electrons sense the proximity of the field-tuned quantum critical point of CeCoIn 5 at H*=H c2 even from inside the superconducting state. In conclusion, the fact that the quantum critical scattering of the unpaired electrons is much weaker than the average scattering of all electrons in the normal state reveals a k-space correlation between the strength ofmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[4];
[5];
[6]
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, Dept. of Physics; Canadian Inst. for Advanced Research, Toronto (Canada)
- Univ. of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Canada). Dept. of Physical and RQMP; Ames Lab. and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- Univ. of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Canada). Dept. of Physics and RQMP
- Isfahan Univ. of Technology, Isfahan (Iran). Dept. of Physics
- Canadian Inst. for Advanced Research, Toronto (Canada); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Canadian Inst. for Advanced Research, Toronto (Canada); Univ. of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Canada). Dept. of Physics and RQMP
- Publication Date:
- Report Number(s):
- IS-J-9062; BNL-113791-2017-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007; PRLTAO
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11358; AC02-98CH10886; DMR-0952716; SC0012704
- Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 117; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Research Org:
- Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1326835
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1259586; OSTI ID: 1357954