Specific-Heat Evidence of the First-Order Superconducting Transition in Sr^sub 2^RuO^sub 4

We investigate the specific heat of ultra pure single crystals of Sr2RuO4, a leading candidate spin-triplet superconductor. For the first time, we obtained specific-heat evidence of the first-order superconducting transition below 0.8 K, namely, divergent-like peaks and clear hysteresis in the speci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 2014-08, Vol.83 (8), p.1
Main Authors: Yonezawa, Shingo, Kajikawa, Tomohiro, Maeno, Yoshiteru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Phase transitions
Physics
Single crystals
Superconductivity
Superconductors
Thermodynamics
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Summary:We investigate the specific heat of ultra pure single crystals of Sr2RuO4, a leading candidate spin-triplet superconductor. For the first time, we obtained specific-heat evidence of the first-order superconducting transition below 0.8 K, namely, divergent-like peaks and clear hysteresis in the specific heat at the upper critical field. The first-order transition occurs for all in-plane field directions. The specific-heat features for the first-order transition are found to be highly sensitive to sample quality; in particular, the hysteresis totally disappears in a sample with slightly lower quality. These thermodynamic observations provide crucial bases for understanding the unconventional pair-breaking effect responsible for the first-order transition.
ISSN:0031-9015
1347-4073