Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in Heavy Fermion Superlattices

Abstract

We propose an explanation of the superconducting transitions discovered in the heavy fermion superlattices by Mizukami et al. (Nature Physics 7, 849 (2011)) in terms of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. We observe that the effective mass mismatch between the heavy fermion superconductor and the normal metal regions provides an effective barrier that enables quasi 2D superconductivity in such systems. We show that the resistivity data, both with and without magnetic field, are consistent with BKT transition. Furthermore, we study the influence of a nearby magnetic quantum critical point on the vortex system, and find that the vortex core energy can be significantly reduced due to magnetic fluctuations. Further reduction of the gap with decreasing number of layers is understood as a result of pair breaking effect of Yb ions at the interface.

arXiv comment7 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (18)

• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Vanishing of phase coherence in underdoped Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+d
• Superconducting Vortex with Antiferromagnetic Core
• Extremely strong coupling superconductivity in artificial two-dimensional Kondo lattices
• Broadening of the Beresinkii-Kosterlitz-Thouless superconducting transition by inhomogeneity and finite-size effects
• Locally Non-centrosymmetric Superconductivity in Multilayer Systems
• Role of the vortex-core energy on the Beresinkii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in thin films of NbN
• Fluctuations, dissipation, and nonuniversal superfluid jumps in two-dimensional superconductors
• Strongly nonlinear magnetization above $T_c$ in $\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{i}}_2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{r}}_2\mathrm{CaC}{\mathrm{u}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\delta }$
• A dynamical study of phase fluctuations and their critical slowing down in amorphous superconducting films
• Interaction of vortices in thin superconducting films and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition
• Monte Carlo simulation of a two-dimensional continuum Coulomb gas
• Field-tuned quantum critical point of antiferromagnetic metals
• On the possibility of fast vortices in the cuprates: A vortex plasma model analysis of THz conductivity and diamagnetism in La${}_{2-x}$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$
• Superconducting proximity effects in metals with a repulsive pairing interaction
• Biot-Savart correlations in layered superconductors
• Renormalization group approach to layered superconductors
• Destruction of chain-superconductivity in YBa_2Cu_4O_8 in a weak magnetic field

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Pair-density wave states through spin-orbit coupling in multilayer superconductors
• Anomalous Upper Critical Field in CeCoIn_5/YbCoIn_5 Superlattices with a Rashba-type Heavy Fermion Interface
• Controllable Rashba spin-orbit interaction in artificially engineered superlattices involving the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5
• From Kondo Lattices to Kondo Superlattices
• Emergent exotic superconductivity in artificially-engineered tricolor Kondo superlattices
• Fate of Majorana modes in ${\mathrm{CeCoIn}}_5$/${\mathrm{YbCoIn}}_5$ superlattices -a test bed for reduction of topological classification-
• Tuning of magnetic quantum criticality in artificial Kondo superlattice CeRhIn5/YbRhIn5
• The interface between heavy fermions and normal electrons investigated by spatially-resolved nuclear magnetic resonance
• Controlling unconventional superconductivity in artificially engineered $f$-electron Kondo superlattices
• Topological d-wave superconductivity in two dimensions
• Unbinding of giant vortices in states of competing order
• Reciprocal and nonreciprocal paraconductivity in bilayer multiphase superconductors
• Vortex supersolid in the XY model with tunable vortex fugacity