Type-I superconductivity in Al${}_6$Re

Abstract

While the pure elements tend to exhibit Type-I rather than Type-II superconductivity, nearly all compound superconductors are Type-II, with only a few known exceptions. We report single crystal growth and physical characterization of the rhenium aluminide Al${}_6$Re, which we conclude is a Type-I superconductor based on magnetization, ac-susceptibility, and specific-heat measurements. This detection of superconductivity, despite the strong similarity of Al${}_6$Re to a family of W and Mo aluminides that do not superconduct, suggests that these aluminides are an ideal testbed for identifying the relative importance of valence electron count and inversion symmetry in determining whether a material will superconduct.

9 pages, 7 figures, CIF file as ancillary

References in corpus (6)

• Specific heat and $\mu$SR study on the noncentrosymmetric superconductor LaRhSi3
• Specific heat and electronic states of superconducting boron-doped silicon carbide
• Exceptional type-I superconductivity of the layered silver oxide Ag${}_5$Pb${}_2$O${}_6$
• Type-I superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric superconductor AuBe
• muSR and Magnetometry Study of the Type-I Superconductor BeAu
• Superconductivity in heavily boron-doped silicon carbide

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Type-I superconductivity in PdTe${}_2$ probed by $\mu$SR
• Type-I superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric NbGe${}_2$
• Full superconducting gap and type-I to type-II superconductivity transition in single crystalline NbGe2