Superconductivity in the presence of disorder in skutterudite-related La$_3$Co$_4$Sn$_{13}$ and La$_3$Ru$_4$Sn$_{13}$ compounds; electrical transport and magnetic studies

A. Slebarski; M. M. Maska; M. Fijalkowski; C. A. McElroy; M. B. Maple

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.06.198

paper

Superconductivity in the presence of disorder in skutterudite-related La $_{3}$ Co $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ and La $_{3}$ Ru $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ compounds; electrical transport and magnetic studies

arXiv:1502.07324 · doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.06.198

Abstract

La $_{3}$ Co $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ and La $_{3}$ Ru $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ were categorized as BCS superconductors. In a plot of the critical field $H_{c 2}$ vs $T$ , La $_{3}$ Ru $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ displays a second superconducting phase at the higher critical temperature $T_{c}^{⋆}$ , characteristic of inhomogeneous superconductors, while La $_{3}$ Co $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ shows bulk superconductivity below $T_{c}$ . We observe a decrease in critical temperatures with external pressure and magnetic field for both compounds with $\frac{d T _{c}^{⋆}}{d P} > \frac{d T _{c}}{d P}$ . The pressure dependences of $T_{c}$ are interpreted according to the McMillan theory and understood to be a consequence of lattice stiffening. The investigation of the superconducting state of La $_{3}$ Co $_{x}$ Ru $_{4 - x}$ Sn $_{13}$ shows a $T_{c}^{⋆}$ that is larger then $T_{c}$ for $x < 4$ . This unique and unexpected observation is discussed as a result of the local disorder and/or the effect of chemical pressure when Ru atoms are partially replaced by smaller Co atoms.

9 pages, revtex

References in corpus (1)

Thermodynamic transitions in inhomogeneous d-wave superconductors

Superconductivity in the presence of disorder in skutterudite-related La3​Co4​Sn13​ and La3​Ru4​Sn13​ compounds; electrical transport and magnetic studies

Abstract

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Superconductivity in the presence of disorder in skutterudite-related La $_{3}$ Co $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ and La $_{3}$ Ru $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ compounds; electrical transport and magnetic studies