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Direct evidence for a magnetic f-electron-mediated pairing mechanism of heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeCoIn5

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

J.S. Van Dyke
F. Massee
M.P. Allan
J.C.S. Davis
C. Petrovic
D.K. Morr

Abstract

To identify the microscopic mechanism of heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is an unresolved challenge in quantum matter studies; it may also relate closely to finding the pairing mechanism of hightemperature superconductivity. Magnetically mediated Cooper pairing has long been the conjectured basis of heavy-fermion superconductivity but no direct verification of this hypothesis was achievable. Here, we use a novel approach based on precision measurements of the heavy-fermion band structure using quasiparticle interference imaging to reveal quantitatively the momentum space (k-space) structure of the f-electron magnetic interactions of CeCoIn5. Then, by solving the superconducting gap equations on the two heavy-fermion bands Eα,βk with these magnetic interactions as mediators of the Cooper pairing, we derive a series of quantitative predictions about the superconductive state. The agreement found between these diverse predictions and the measured characteristics of superconducting CeCoIn5 then provides direct evidence that the heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is indeed mediated by f-electron magnetism.

Date Published

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

111

Issue

32

Number of Pages

11663-11667,

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84905978978&doi=10.1073%2fpnas.1409444111&partnerID=40&md5=618645a8b524d4b4053c0d0429d722fb

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1409444111

Group (Lab)

J.C. Seamus Davis Group

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