TY - JOUR
T1 - Nodeless superconductivity in the cage-type superconductor Sc5Ru6Sn18 with preserved time-reversal symmetry
AU - Kumar, D.
AU - Kuo, C. N.
AU - Astuti, F.
AU - Shang, T.
AU - Lee, M. K.
AU - Lue, C. S.
AU - Watanabe, I.
AU - Barker, J. A.T.
AU - Shiroka, T.
AU - Chang, L. J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2018/7/16
Y1 - 2018/7/16
N2 - We report the single-crystal synthesis and detailed investigations of the cage-type superconductor Sc5Ru6Sn18, using powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization, specific-heat and muon-spin relaxation (μSR) measurements. Sc5Ru6Sn18 crystallizes in a tetragonal structure (space group I41/acd) with lattice parameters a = 1.387(3) nm and c = 2.641(5) nm. Both DC and AC magnetization measurements prove the type-II superconductivity in Sc5Ru6Sn18 with T c ≈ 3.5(1) K, a lower critical field = 157(9) Oe and an upper critical field, = 26(1) kOe. The zero-field electronic specific-heat data are well fitted using a single-gap BCS model, with = 0.64(1) meV. The Sommerfeld constant γ varies linearly with the applied magnetic field, indicating s-wave superconductivity in Sc5Ru6Sn18. Specific-heat and transverse-field (TF) μSR measurements reveal that Sc5Ru6Sn18 is a superconductor with strong electron-phonon coupling, with TF-μSR also suggesting a single-gap s-wave character of the superconductivity. Furthermore, zero-field μSR measurements do not detect spontaneous magnetic fields below T c, hence implying that time-reversal symmetry is preserved in Sc5Ru6Sn18.
AB - We report the single-crystal synthesis and detailed investigations of the cage-type superconductor Sc5Ru6Sn18, using powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization, specific-heat and muon-spin relaxation (μSR) measurements. Sc5Ru6Sn18 crystallizes in a tetragonal structure (space group I41/acd) with lattice parameters a = 1.387(3) nm and c = 2.641(5) nm. Both DC and AC magnetization measurements prove the type-II superconductivity in Sc5Ru6Sn18 with T c ≈ 3.5(1) K, a lower critical field = 157(9) Oe and an upper critical field, = 26(1) kOe. The zero-field electronic specific-heat data are well fitted using a single-gap BCS model, with = 0.64(1) meV. The Sommerfeld constant γ varies linearly with the applied magnetic field, indicating s-wave superconductivity in Sc5Ru6Sn18. Specific-heat and transverse-field (TF) μSR measurements reveal that Sc5Ru6Sn18 is a superconductor with strong electron-phonon coupling, with TF-μSR also suggesting a single-gap s-wave character of the superconductivity. Furthermore, zero-field μSR measurements do not detect spontaneous magnetic fields below T c, hence implying that time-reversal symmetry is preserved in Sc5Ru6Sn18.
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U2 - 10.1088/1361-648X/aacf65
DO - 10.1088/1361-648X/aacf65
M3 - Article
C2 - 29947614
AN - SCOPUS:85050571302
SN - 0953-8984
VL - 30
JO - Journal of Physics Condensed Matter
JF - Journal of Physics Condensed Matter
IS - 31
M1 - 315803
ER -