Multiband superconductivity and penetration depth in PrOs4Sb12

Abstract

The effective superconducting penetration depth measured in the vortex state of PrOs4Sb12 using transverse-field muon spin rotation (TF-muSR) exhibits an activated temperature dependence at low temperatures, consistent with a nonzero gap for quasiparticle excitations. In contrast, Meissner-state radiofrequency (rf) inductive measurements of the penetration depth yield a T^2 temperature dependence, suggestive of point nodes in the gap. A scenario based on the recent discovery of extreme two-band superconductivity in PrOs4Sb12 is proposed to resolve this difference. In this picture a large difference between large- and small-gap coherence lengths renders the field distribution in the vortex state controlled mainly by supercurrents from a fully-gapped large-gap band. In zero field all bands contribute, yielding a stronger temperature dependence to the rf inductive measurements.

2 pages, 2 figures, submitted for publication in Proc. Int. Conf. on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, Houston, May 2007

References in corpus (5)

• Multiband superconductivity in the heavy fermion compound PrOs4Sb12
• Probing the superconducting gap symmetry of PrOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$: A penetration depth study
• muSR linewidth and isotropic pairing in superconducting PrOs4Sb12
• Superconducting PrOs4Sb12: a thermal conductivity study
• Investigations of the Core Structure of Magnetic Vortices in Type-II Superconductors by muSR

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Muon Spin Rotation Measurement of the Magnetic Field Penetration Depth in Ba(Fe0.93 Co0.07)2 As2 : Evidence for Multiple Superconducting Gaps
• Penetration depth, multiband superconductivity, and absence of muon-induced perturbation in superconducting PrOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$
• Field dependent mass enhancement in Pr_{1-x}La_xOs_4Sb_12 from aspherical Coulomb scattering
• Stability of Bogoliubov Fermi Surfaces within BCS Theory
• Comment on "Pronounced Enhancement of the Lower Critical Field and Critical Current Deep in the Superconducting State of PrOs4Sb12"
• Time-reversal symmetry violation and the structure of Superconducting Order Parameter of PrOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$