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Title: Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5

Abstract

Layered material structures play a key role in enhancing electron–electron interactions to create correlated metallic phases that can transform into unconventional superconducting states. The quasi-two-dimensional electronic properties of such compounds are often inferred indirectly through examination of bulk properties. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to directly probe in cross-section the quasi-two-dimensional electronic states of the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5. Our measurements reveal the strong confined nature of quasiparticles, anisotropy of tunneling characteristics, and layer-by-layer modulated behavior of the precursor pseudogap gap phase. In the interlayer coupled superconducting state, the orientation of line defects relative to the d-wave order parameter determines whether in-gap states form due to scattering. Spectroscopic imaging of the anisotropic magnetic vortex cores directly characterizes the short interlayer superconducting coherence length and shows an electronic phase separation near the upper critical in-plane magnetic field, consistent with a Pauli-limited first-order phase transition into a pseudogap phase.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Binghamton Univ., NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
OSTI Identifier:
1422922
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-26033
Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; FG02-07ER46419
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Material Science

Citation Formats

Gyenis, András, Feldman, Benjamin E., Randeria, Mallika T., Peterson, Gabriel A., Bauer, Eric D., Aynajian, Pegor, and Yazdani, Ali. Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02841-9.
Gyenis, András, Feldman, Benjamin E., Randeria, Mallika T., Peterson, Gabriel A., Bauer, Eric D., Aynajian, Pegor, & Yazdani, Ali. Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02841-9
Gyenis, András, Feldman, Benjamin E., Randeria, Mallika T., Peterson, Gabriel A., Bauer, Eric D., Aynajian, Pegor, and Yazdani, Ali. Wed . "Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02841-9. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1422922.
@article{osti_1422922,
title = {Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5},
author = {Gyenis, András and Feldman, Benjamin E. and Randeria, Mallika T. and Peterson, Gabriel A. and Bauer, Eric D. and Aynajian, Pegor and Yazdani, Ali},
abstractNote = {Layered material structures play a key role in enhancing electron–electron interactions to create correlated metallic phases that can transform into unconventional superconducting states. The quasi-two-dimensional electronic properties of such compounds are often inferred indirectly through examination of bulk properties. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to directly probe in cross-section the quasi-two-dimensional electronic states of the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5. Our measurements reveal the strong confined nature of quasiparticles, anisotropy of tunneling characteristics, and layer-by-layer modulated behavior of the precursor pseudogap gap phase. In the interlayer coupled superconducting state, the orientation of line defects relative to the d-wave order parameter determines whether in-gap states form due to scattering. Spectroscopic imaging of the anisotropic magnetic vortex cores directly characterizes the short interlayer superconducting coherence length and shows an electronic phase separation near the upper critical in-plane magnetic field, consistent with a Pauli-limited first-order phase transition into a pseudogap phase.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-02841-9},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 07 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Wed Feb 07 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Chiral superconductivity in heavy-fermion metal UTe2
journal, March 2020