paper

La substitution studies on the heavy-fermion superconductor CeRhAs

arXiv:2609.17080 · doi:10.1103/f79y-ssdx

Abstract

CeRhAs has been receiving considerable attention due to its unusual two-phase superconductivity. The superconducting (SC) phase appears at = 0.35 K in an ordered state (phase I) of the Ce-4 moments, which develops below = 0.55 K. The microscopic nature of phase I has not been fully established yet. We report a single-crystal study of the effect of La substitution on these low-temperature phases in CeLaRhAs up to = 0.1. The lattice parameters increase monotonically with , corresponding to an effective negative pressure of approximately -0.3 GPa for = 0.1. While the Ce local valence state and the non-Fermi-liquid behavior are preserved, the resistivity coherence maximum 45 K in the pristine sample shifts to lower temperatures with increasing , indicating a suppression of the Kondo energy scale upon lattice expansion. On the other hand, both and are rapidly suppressed to below 0.1 K for 0.05. Notably, such a rapid decrease of under moderate negative pressure is unexpected, but is rather consistent with substitution-induced disorder effect which leads to strong pair breaking in unconventional superconductors. The observed fragility of phase I under both pressure and disorder may imply its itinerant origin.

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