Vortexlike excitations in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn${}_5$

Abstract

We report a systematic study of temperature- and field-dependent charge ($\mathbf{\rho }$) and entropy ($\mathbf{S}$) transport in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn${}_5$. Its large positive thermopower $S_{xx}$ is typical of Ce-based Kondo lattice systems, and strong electronic correlations play an important role in enhancing the Nernst signal $S_{xy}$. By separating the off-diagonal Peltier coefficient ${\alpha }_{xy}$ from $S_{xy}$, we find that ${\alpha }_{xy}$ becomes positive and greatly enhanced at temperatures well above the bulk $T_c$. Compared with the non-magnetic analog LaIrIn${}_5$, these results suggest vortexlike excitations in a precursor state to unconventional superconductivity in CeIrIn${}_5$. This study sheds new light on the similarity of heavy-fermion and cuprate superconductors and on the possibility of states not characterized by the amplitude of an order parameter.

6 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Probing quantum criticality in ferromagnetic CeRh6Ge4
• The correlation between the Nernst effect and fluctuation diamagnetism in strongly fluctuating superconductors
• Unconventional and conventional quantum criticalities in CeRh${}_{0.58}$Ir${}_{0.42}$In${}_5$