Multiple superconducting transitions in the Sr3Ru2O7 region of Sr3Ru2O7-Sr2RuO4 eutectic crystals

Abstract

We report superconducting properties of Sr3Ru2O7-Sr2RuO4 eutectic crystals, consisting of the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4 with a monolayer stacking of RuO2 planes and the metamagnetic normal metal Sr3Ru2O7 with a bilayer stacking. Although Sr3Ru2O7 has not been reported to exhibit superconductivity so far, our AC susceptibility measurements revealed multiple superconducting transitions occurring in the Sr3Ru2O7 region of the eutectic crystals. The diamagnetic shielding essentially reached the full fraction at low AC fields parallel to the c axis. However, both the shielding fraction and the onset temperature are easily suppressed by AC fields of larger than 0.1 mT-rms and no anomaly was observed in the specific heat. Moreover, the critical field curves of these transitions have a positive curvature near zero fields, which is different from the upper critical field curve of the bulk Sr2RuO4. These facts suggest that the superconductivity observed in the Sr3Ru2O7 region is not a bulk property. To explain these experimental results, we propose the scenario that stacking RuO2 planes, the building block of superconducting Sr2RuO4, are contained in the Sr3Ru2O7 region as stacking faults.

8 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4
• Complex-Stripe Phases Induced by Staggered Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Paramagnetically induced gapful topological superconductors
• Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4-Sr3Ru2O7 eutectic crystals
• Random Spin-orbit Coupling in Spin Triplet Superconductors: Stacking Faults in Sr_2RuO_4 and CePt_3Si
• Spin-orbit Coupling and Multiple Phases in Spin-triplet Superconductor Sr${}_2$RuO${}_4$
• Spatial development of superconductivity in the Sr2RuO4-Ru eutectic system
• Evidence for the Sr2RuO4 intercalations in the Sr3Ru2O7 region of the Sr3Ru2O7-Sr2RuO4 eutectic system
• High-resolution magnetostriction measurements of the Pauli-limited superconductor Sr2RuO4