Point-contact spectroscopy in heavy-fermion superconductors

Abstract

We develop a minimal model to calculate point-contact spectra between a metallic tip and a superconducting heavy-fermion system. We apply our tunneling model to the heavy fermion CeCoIn5, both in the normal and superconducting state. In point-contact and scanning tunneling spectroscopy many heavy-fermion materials, like CeCoIn5, exhibit an asymmetric differential conductance, dI/dV, combined with a strongly suppressed Andreev reflection signal in the superconducting state. We argue that both features may be explained in terms of a multichannel tunneling model in the presence of localized states near the interface. We find that it is not sufficient to tunnel into two itinerant bands of light and heavy electrons to explain the Fano line shape of the differential conductance. Localized states in the bulk or near the interface are an essential component for quantum interference to occur when an electron tunnels from the metallic tip of the point contact into the heavy-fermion system.

13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B

References in corpus (29)

• Fermi-liquid instabilities at magnetic quantum phase transitions
• Hamiltonian approach to the transport properties of superconducting quantum point contacts
• Angular Position of Nodes in the Superconducting Gap of Quasi-2D Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn_5
• Unconventional superconductivity in CeIrIn${}_5$ and CeCoIn${}_5$: Specific heat and thermal conductivity studies
• Orbital dependent superconductivity in Sr_2RuO_4
• Spin-triplet superconductivity in Sr${}_2$RuO${}_4$ probed by Andreev reflection
• Sign reversal of field-angle resolved heat capacity oscillations in a heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn${}_5$ and $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing symmetry
• Andreev Reflection in Heavy-Fermion Superconductors and Order Parameter Symmetry in CeCoIn_5
• Anomalous NMR Magnetic Shifts in CeCoIn_5
• Electron Cotunneling into a Kondo Lattice
• Field-angle Dependence of the Zero-Energy Density of States in the Unconventional Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5
• Scaling in the Emergent Behavior of Heavy Electron Materials
• Thermodynamics of a d-wave Superconductor Near a Surface
• Unpaired Electrons in the Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn_{5}
• The Effect of Surfaces on the Tunneling Density of States of an Anisotropically Paired Superconductor
• Anisotropy of Thermal Conductivity and Possible Signature of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in CeCoIn_5
• Universal Behavior in Heavy Electron Materials
• Identifying the pairing symmetry in the Sr2RuO4 superconductor
• Quasiclassical description of transport through superconducting contacts
• Anisotropic spin fluctuations in heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5: In-NQR and Co-NMR studies
• Point-Contact Spectroscopy of the Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn${}_5$
• Electronic Duality in Strongly Correlated Matter
• The Fano effect in the point contact spectroscopy of heavy electron materials
• Andreev reflection and order parameter symmetry in heavy-fermion superconductors: the case of CeCoIn${}_5$
• Gapless Fermi Surfaces in Superconducting CeCoIn5?
• Excess current in superconducting Sr${}_2$RuO${}_4$
• Nonlinear magnetic field dependence of the conductance in d-wave NIS tunnel junctions
• Shot noise in normal metal-d-wave superconducting junctions
• Towards a Microscopic Theory for Metallic Heavy-Fermion Point Contacts

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Observation of the hybridization gap and Fano resonance in the Kondo lattice URu2Si2
• Hybridization wave as the 'Hidden Order' in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Strong-coupling d-wave superconductivity in PuCoGa_5 probed by point contact spectroscopy
• Tunneling into clean Heavy Fermion Compounds: Origin of the Fano Lineshape
• Two-Fluid Model for Heavy Electron Physics
• Theory of Point Contact Spectroscopy in Correlated Materials
• Two-channel point-contact tunneling theory of superconductors
• Superconducting gap structure of the 115's revisited
• Spectroscopic Evidence for the Direct Involvement of Local Moments in the Pairing Process of the Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn${}_5$
• Hybridization gap in the heavy-fermion compound UPd${}_2$Al${}_3$ via quasiparticle scattering spectroscopy
• A modular point contact spectroscopy probe for sub-Kelvin applications
• Conductance spectroscopy of a correlated superconductor in a magnetic field in the Pauli limit: Evidence for strong correlations
• Spin-polarized supercurrent through the van der Waals Kondo lattice ferromagnet Fe${}_3$GeTe${}_2$
• Origin of gap-like behaviors in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$: Combined study via quasiparticle scattering spectroscopy and resistivity measurements
• Spin-polarized currents and noise in NS junctions with Yu-Shiba-Rusinov impurities
• Recent Progress of Point Contact Spectroscopy as a Probe of Correlated Electron States
• Spatial interferences in the electron transport of heavy fermion materials
• Tunneling limit of heavy-fermion point contacts
• Tunneling in heavy-fermion junctions
• Exploring unconventional superconductivity in PdTe via Point Contact Spectroscopy