Longitudinal spin fluctuations driving field-reinforced superconductivity in UTe

徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; Opletal, P.; 常盤 欣文; 芳賀 芳範; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; 青木 大*; Knebel, G.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 131(22), p.226503_1 - 226503_7, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.226503

Our measurements of Te NMR relaxations reveal an enhancement of electronic spin fluctuations above ~T, leading to their divergence in the vicinity of the metamagnetic transition at ~T, below which field-reinforced superconductivity appears when a magnetic field () is applied along the crystallographic axis. The NMR data evidence that these fluctuations are dominantly longitudinal, providing a key to understanding the peculiar superconducting phase diagram in , where such fluctuations enhance the pairing interactions.

Superconducting spin reorientation in spin-triplet multiple superconducting phases of UTe

金城 克樹*; 藤林 裕己*; 松村 拓輝*; 堀 文哉*; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; 徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; 仲村 愛*; et al.

Science Advances (Internet), 9(30), p.2736_1 - 2736_6, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg2736

Superconducting (SC) state has spin and orbital degrees of freedom, and spin-triplet superconductivity shows multiple SC phases because of the presence of these degrees of freedom. However, the observation of spin-direction rotation occurring inside the SC state (SC spin rotation) has hardly been reported. Uranium ditelluride, a recently found topological superconductor, exhibits various SC phases under pressure: SC state at ambient pressure (SC1), high-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC2), and low-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC3). We performed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ac susceptibility measurements on a single-crystal uranium ditelluride. The b axis spin susceptibility remains unchanged in SC2, unlike in SC1, and decreases below the SC2-SC3 transition with spin modulation. These unique properties in SC3 arise from the coexistence of two SC order parameters. Our NMR results confirm spin-triplet superconductivity with SC spin parallel to b axis in SC2 and unveil the remaining of spin degrees of freedom in SC uranium ditelluride.

Large reduction in the -axis knight shift on UTe with = 2.1 K

松村 拓輝*; 藤林 裕己*; 金城 克樹*; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; 徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; 仲村 愛*; 清水 悠晴*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 92(6), p.063701_1 - 063701_5, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.92.063701

Spin susceptibility in the superconducting (SC) state was measured in the higher-quality sample of uranium-based superconductor UTe by using Knight-shift measurements for a magnetic field along all three crystalline axes. In the higher-quality sample, the SC transition temperature is about 2.1 K, and the residual electronic term in the specific heat is almost zero. The NMR linewidth becomes narrower and is almost half of that in the previous sample with 1.6 K when and . Although the Knight-shift behavior was not so different from the previous results for , and , a large reduction in Knight shift along the axis was observed, in contrast with the previous -axis Knight shift result. We discuss the origin of the difference between the previous and present results, and the possible SC state derived from the present results.

Change of superconducting character in UTe induced by magnetic field

金城 克樹*; 藤林 裕己*; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; 徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; 仲村 愛*; 清水 悠晴*; 本間 佳哉*; et al.

Physical Review B, 107(6), p.L060502_1 - L060502_5, 2023/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L060502

UTe is a recently discovered spin-triplet superconductor. One of the characteristic features of UTe is a magnetic field ()-boosted superconductivity above 16 T when H is applied exactly parallel to the axis. To date, this superconducting (SC) state has not been thoroughly investigated, and the SC properties as well as the spin state of this high- SC (HHSC) phase are not well understood. In this letter, we performed AC magnetic susceptibility and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements and found that, up to 24.8 T, the HHSC state has bulk nature and is quite sensitive to the angle and that its SC character is different from that in the low- SC (LHSC) state. The dominant spin component of the spin-triplet pair is along the axis in the LHSC state but is changed in the HHSC state along the axis. Our results indicate that -induced multiple SC states originate from the remaining spin degrees of freedom.

Unconventional superconductivity in UTe

青木 大*; Brison, J.-P.*; Flouquet, J.*; 石田 憲二*; Knebel, G.*; 徳永 陽; 柳瀬 陽一*

Journal of Physics; Condensed Matter, 34(24), p.243002_1 - 243002_41, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ac5863

The novel spin-triplet superconductor candidate UTe attracted enormous attention. We review key experimental and theoretical progress which has been achieved in different laboratories. UTe has been expected to be close to a ferromagnetic instability, showing many similarities to the U-based ferromagnetic superconductors, URhGe and UCoGe. The competition between different types of magnetic interactions and the duality between the local and itinerant character of the 5 f Uranium electrons, as well as the shift of the U valence appear as key parameters in the rich phase diagrams discovered recently under extreme conditions like low temperature, high magnetic field, and pressure. We discuss macroscopic and microscopic experiments at low temperature to clarify the normal phase properties at ambient pressure for field applied along the three axis of this orthorhombic structure.

Slow electronic dynamics in the paramagnetic state of UTe

徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; 芳賀 芳範; 常盤 欣文; Opletal, P.; 藤林 裕己*; 金城 克樹*; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 91(2), p.023707_1 - 023707_5, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.91.023707

ウラン系の強磁性超伝導体で議論されてきた、「強磁性ゆらぎによるスピン三重項超伝導対の形成」および「強磁性ゆらぎを介した磁場による対形成引力の制御」というコンセプトがUTeにおいても成り立つことを期待させる。しかしその一方、では静的な強磁性秩序は存在せず、低温の磁気状態がこれまでのウラン系強磁性超伝導体にどこまで近いのかという点については疑問を持たれていた。実際、最近の中性子散乱実験では、比較的高温側から反強磁性に近いq=0.57という波数を持った磁気ゆらぎの発達が示されている。本研究ではTe-NMR実験により低温で非常に遅いゆっくりとした揺らぎが発達する様子を捉えることに成功した。このことはこの系の低温における強い相関の発達を示唆している。

Hybridization of Bogoliubov quasiparticles between adjacent CuO layers in the triple-layer cuprate BiSrCaCuO studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

出田 真一郎*; Johnston, S.*; 吉田 鉄平*; 田中 清尚*; 森 道康; 安齋 太陽*; 井野 明洋*; 有田 将司*; 生天目 博文*; 谷口 雅樹*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 127(21), p.217004_1 - 217004_6, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.217004

Hybridization of Bogoliubov quasiparticles (BQPs) between the CuO layers in the triple-layer cuprate high-temperature superconductor BiSrCaCuO is studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). In the superconducting state, an anti-crossing gap opens between the outer- and inner-BQP bands, which we attribute primarily to interlayer single-particle hopping with possible contributions from interlayer Cooper pairing. We find that the -wave superconducting gap of both BQP bands smoothly develops with momentum without abrupt jump in contrast to a previous ARPES study. Hybridization between the BQPs also gradually increases in going from the off-nodal to the anti-nodal region, which is explained by the momentum-dependence of the interlayer single-particle hopping. As possible mechanisms for the enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature, the hybridization between the BQPs, as well as the combination of phonon modes of the triple CuO layers and spin fluctuations are discussed.

Inhomogeneous superconducting state probed by Te NMR on UTe

仲嶺 元輝*; 金城 克樹*; 北川 俊作*; 石田 憲二*; 徳永 陽; 酒井 宏典; 神戸 振作; 仲村 愛*; 清水 悠晴*; 本間 佳哉*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 90(6), p.064709_1 - 064709_7, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.90.064709

UTe is a recently discovered promising candidate for a spin-triplet superconductor. In contrast to conventional spin-singlet superconductivity, spin-triplet superconductivity possesses spin and angular momentum degrees of freedom. We previously reported that the shoulder signal appears in NMR spectra below the superconducting (SC) transition temperature in , and a slight decrease in the Knight shift along the and axes ( and , respectively) below at a low magnetic field . Although the decrease in vanished above 5.5 T, the decrease in was independent of up to 6.5 T. To clarify the origin of the shoulder signal and the trace of the decrease in , we compared the Te-NMR spectra obtained when and and measured the Te-NMR spectra for up to 14.5 T.

Homogeneity of neutron transmission imaging over a large sensitive area with a four-channel superconducting detector

Vu, TheDang; 宍戸 寛明*; 小嶋 健児*; 小山 富男*; 及川 健一; 原田 正英; 宮嶋 茂之*; 奥 隆之; 曽山 和彦; 相澤 一也; et al.

Superconductor Science and Technology, 34(1), p.015010_1 - 015010_10, 2021/01

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6668/abc2af

We demonstrated that a four-readout superconducting neutron imaging system shows good spatial heterogeneity and linearity using the delay-line method. We examined the precise pattern of a B-dot-array absorber and found the X-direction pitch (Px) = 250.7 um with a scatter of (Hx)= 5.4 um and the Y-direction pitch (Py)= 249.1 um with a scatter of (Hy)= 3.4 um while the B dot array was fully extended toward the X direction across the detector sensitive area. We consider that this demonstrates detection with good spatial homogeneity and conclude. The transmission-imaging system is suitable for use at pulsed neutron facilities. We also reported a clear transmission image of tiny screws and nuts, and ladybug (insect). We recognize that further efforts to improve the detection efficiency are necessary to make using the detector more practical.

Tolerance of spin-Seebeck thermoelectricity against irradiation by swift heavy ions

岡安 悟; 針井 一哉*; 小畠 雅明; 吉井 賢資; 福田 竜生; 石田 真彦*; 家田 淳一; 齊藤 英治

Journal of Applied Physics, 128(8), p.083902_1 - 083902_7, 2020/08

AA2020-0071.pdf:0.69MB

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0014229

The ion-irradiation tolerance of thermoelectric devices based on the spin Seebeck effect (SSE) was investigated by using 320 MeV gold ion (Au) beams modeling cumulative damages due to fission products emitted from the surface of spent nuclear fuels. For this purpose, prototypical Pt/YFeO/GdGaO SSE elements were irradiated with varying the dose level at room temperature and measured the SSE voltage of them. We confirmed that the thermoelectric and magnetic properties of the SSE elements are not affected by the ion-irradiation up to ions/cm fluence and that the SSE signal is extinguished around ions/cm, in which the ion tracks almost fully cover the sample surface. We also performed the hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) measurements to understand the effects at the interface of Pt/YFeO. The HAXPES measurements suggest that the chemical reaction that diminishes the SSE signals is enhanced with the increase of the irradiation dose. The present study demonstrates that SSE-based devices are applicable to thermoelectric generation even in harsh environments for a long time period.