Reinforcement of superconductivity by quantum critical fluctuations of metamagnetism in UTe

Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Kimata, Motoi*; Awaji, Satoshi*; Sasaki, Takahiko*; Aoki, Dai*; Haga, Yoshinori; et al.

Physical Review B, 109(14), p.L140502_1 - L140502_6, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.L140502

The normal-conducting state of the superconductor UTe is studied by entropy analysis for magnetic fields along the -axis, obtained from magnetization using the relation . We observe a strong increase in entropy with magnetic field due to metamagnetic fluctuations (spatially uniform, ). The field dependence is well described by the Hertz-Millis-Moriya theory for quantum criticality of itinerant metamagnetism. Notably, the lower bound of the quantum-critical region coincides well with the position of the minimum in the superconducting transition temperature . Hence, our results suggest that fluctuations reinforce the superconductivity.

Longitudinal spin fluctuations driving field-reinforced superconductivity in UTe

Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Haga, Yoshinori; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; Aoki, Dai*; Knebel, G.*; et al.

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

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

Chiral superconductivity in UTe probed by anisotropic low-energy excitations

Ishihara, Kota*; Roppongi, Masaki*; Kobayashi, Masayuki*; Imamura, Kumpei*; Mizukami, Yuta*; Sakai, Hironori; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Haga, Yoshinori; Hashimoto, Kenichiro*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 14, p.2966_1 - 2966_7, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38688-y

The superconducting symmetry of the heavy fermion uranium-based superconductor UTe is investigated using low temperature penetration depth measurements. The anisotropic low-energy quasiparticle excitations indicates multiple superconducting components in a chiral complex form. The most consistent is a chiral non-unitary state.

Anisotropic enhancement of lower critical field in ultraclean crystals of spin-triplet superconductor candidate UTe

Ishihara, Kota*; Kobayashi, Masayuki*; Imamura, Kumpei*; Konczykowski, M.*; Sakai, Hironori; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Haga, Yoshinori; Hashimoto, Kenichiro*; Shibauchi, Takasada*

Physical Review Research (Internet), 5(2), p.L022002_1 - L022002_6, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L022002

Lower superconducting critical fields of UTe have been determined. Orthorhombic UTe has magnetic easy axis along the -axis. We found perpendicular to showed anomalous enhancement. By comparing with anisotropy of upper critical fields, effect of magnetic fluctuations on superconductivity is suggested.

Antiferromagnetism and mixed valency in the new Kondo lattice compound CeRhSn

Opletal, P.; Duverger-Ndellec, E.*; Miliyanchuk, K.*; Malick, S.*; Hossain, Z.*; Custers, J.*

Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 927, p.166941_1 - 166941_7, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.166941

Single crystal growth of superconducting UTe by molten salt flux method

Sakai, Hironori; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku; Haga, Yoshinori

Physical Review Materials (Internet), 6(7), p.073401_1 - 073401_10, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.073401

The molten salt flux method is applied as a new synthetic route for the single crystals of the spin-triplet superconductor UTe. The single crystals under an optimized growth condition with excess uranium exhibit a superconducting transition at K, which is the highest reported for this compound. The obtained crystals show a remarkably large residual resistivity ratio with respect to the room temperature value and a small residual electronic contribution in specific heat well below . These results indicate that the increase of in UTe can be achieved by reducing the disorder associated with uranium vacancies. The excess uranium in the molten salt acts as a reducing agent, preventing tetravalent uranium from becoming pentavalent and suppressing creation of uranium vacancies. At the same time, the relatively low growth temperature can suppress Te volatilization.

Slow electronic dynamics in the paramagnetic state of UTe

Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Haga, Yoshinori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Fujibayashi, Hiroki*; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; 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

Te NMR experiments in field () applied along the easy magnetization axis (the -axis) revealed slow electronic dynamics developing in the paramagnetic state of UTe. The observed slow fluctuations are concerned with a successive growth of long-range electronic correlations below 3040 K, where the spin susceptibility along the hard magnetization axis (the -axis) shows a broad maximum. The experiments also imply that tiny amounts of disorder or defects locally disturb the long-range electronic correlations and develop an inhomogeneous electronic state at low temperatures, leading to a low temperature upturn observed in the bulk-susceptibility in . We suggest that UTe would be located on the paramagnetic side near an electronic phase boundary, where either the magnetic or Fermi-surface instability would be the origin of the characteristic fluctuations.

Magnetic entropy of UTe

Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Sakai, Hironori; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Kambe, Shinsaku; Tokunaga, Yo; Haga, Yoshinori; Kimata, Motoi*; Awaji, Satoshi*; Sasaki, Takahiko*; et al.

no journal, , 

UTe has attracted much attention due to the possibility of reentrant superconductivity and spin triplet superconductivity in a magnetic field. In this material, when a magnetic field is applied in the b-axis direction, Tc decreases once due to the magnetic field, but Tc increases under a magnetic field of about 16T or more. In this field direction, there is a metamagnetic transition at 34T. The relationship between this metamagnetism and the anomalous enhancement of Tc has been discussed. Many unconventional superconductors exhibit an unusual metallic state in the normal phase. It is believed that magnetic fluctuations, which are the cause of this phenomenon, generate superconducting electron pairs. Entropy is a direct measure of fluctuations, as entropy exhibits a maximum at the quantum critical point. Therefore, the relationship between fluctuations and superconductivity can be clarified by entropy measurements in the normal state. In this study, we performed precise magnetization measurements at temperatures up to 2 K and magnetic fields up to 24 T using cryogen-free superconducting magnets at the Research Center for High Magnetic Field Superconducting Materials, IMR, Tohoku University. We used a thermodynamic relation to map the entropy in the magnetic field-temperature parameter space. In this talk, we discuss the relationship between the entropy increase due to metamagnetic fluctuations and superconductivity.

Magnetic field-temperature phase diagram along the magnetic hard axis for spin-triplet superconductor UTe

Sakai, Hironori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Kimata, Motoi*; Awaji, Satoshi*; Sasaki, Takahiko*; Aoki, Dai*; Kambe, Shinsaku; Tokunaga, Yo; Haga, Yoshinori

no journal, , 

For a paramagnetic superconductor UTe, a "field-reionforced superconducting state" in which increases with magnetic field above 15 T emerges when a magnetic field is applied "exactly" in the direction of the magnetically hard axis. In order to investigate this high-field superconducting phase, we have attempted to determine the magnetic field-temperature phase diagram of ultra-clean single crystals using a cryogen-free 25 T superconducting magnet (25T-CSM) at the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University. In this presentation, we will report the obtained results.

Slow dynamics of electrons in the paramagnetic state of UTe

Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Haga, Yoshinori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Fujibayashi, Hiroki*; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; et al.

no journal, ,