Superconductivity and the high field ordered phase in the heavy fermion compound PrOs${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$

Abstract

Superconductivity is observed in the filled skutterudite compound \PrOsSb{} below a critical temperature temperature $T_{\mathrm{c}}=1.85$ K and appears to develop out of a nonmagnetic heavy Fermi liquid with an effective mass $m^{\ast }\approx 50m_{\mathrm{e}}$, where $m_{\mathrm{e}}$ is the free electron mass. Features associated with a cubic crystalline electric field are present in magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, electrical resistivity, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements, yielding a Pr${}^{3+}$ energy level scheme consisting of a ${\Gamma }_3$ nonmagnetic doublet ground state, a low lying ${\Gamma }_5$ triplet excitied state at $\sim 10$ K, and much higher temperature ${\Gamma }_4$ triplet and ${\Gamma }_1$ singlet excited states. Measurements also indicate that the superconducting state is unconventional and consists of two distinct superconducting phases. At high fields and low temperatures, an ordered phase of magnetic or quadrupolar origin is observed, suggesting that the superconductivity may occur in the vicinity of a magnetic or quadrupolar quantum critical point.

arXiv comment11 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 3rd international symposium on Advance Science Research (ASR 2002), JAERI Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Evolution of crystalline electric field effects, superconductivity, and heavy fermion behavior in the specific heat of Pr(Os${}_{1-x}$Ru${}_x$)${}_4$Sb${}_{12}$
• Caging-Pnictogen-Induced Superconductivity in Skutterudites IrX3 (X = As, P)
• Heat capacity double transitions in time-reversal symmetry broken superconductors
• Probing the superconductivity of PrPt4Ge12 through Ce substitution
• Competition between phonon superconductivity and Kondo screening in mixed valence and heavy fermion compounds