Direct Evidence for a Magnetic f-electron Mediated Cooper Pairing Mechanism of Heavy Fermion Superconductivity in CeCoIn5

Abstract

To identify the microscopic mechanism of heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is an unresolved challenge in quantum matter studies; it may also relate closely to finding the pairing mechanism of high temperature superconductivity. Magnetically mediated Cooper pairing has long been the conjectured basis of heavy-fermion superconductivity but no direct verification of this hypothesis was achievable. Here, we use a novel approach based on precision measurements of the heavy-fermion band structure using quasiparticle interference (QPI) imaging, to reveal quantitatively the momentum-space (k-space) structure of the f-electron magnetic interactions of CeCoIn5. Then, by solving the superconducting gap equations on the two heavy-fermion bands $E_k^{\alpha ,\beta }$ with these magnetic interactions as mediators of the Cooper pairing, we derive a series of quantitative predictions about the superconductive state. The agreement found between these diverse predictions and the measured characteristics of superconducting CeCoIn5, then provides direct evidence that the heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is indeed mediated by the f-electron magnetism.

19 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Information: 31 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Weak magnetism and non-Fermi liquids near heavy-fermion critical points
• Spin resonance in the d-wave superconductor CeCoIn5
• Imaging the Fano Lattice to 'Hidden Order' Transition in URu2Si2
• Magnetically driven superconductivity in CeCu2Si2
• Visualizing heavy fermions emerging in a quantum critical Kondo lattice
• Andreev Reflection in Heavy-Fermion Superconductors and Order Parameter Symmetry in CeCoIn_5
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• Behavior of the Quantum Critical Point and the Fermi-liquid Domain in the Heavy Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5 studied by resistivity

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Unconventional Superconductivity
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• Theory of Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy: from Kondo Impurities to Heavy Fermion Materials
• d-wave superconductivity in the frustrated two-dimensional periodic Anderson model
• Surface state tunneling signatures in two-component superconductor UPt${}_3$
• Revisiting Quasiparticle Scattering Interference in High-Temperature Superconductors: The Problem of Narrow Peaks
• Fermi-surface topologies and low-temperature phases of the filled Skutterudite compounds CeOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$ and NdOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$