A Simple Mechanism for Unconventional Superconductivity in a Repulsive Fermion Model
Kevin Slagle, Yong Baek Kim
备注：
12+12 pages; 3 figures; v5 is a major revision with new additions: a conductor-dielectric-conductor trilayer interpretation, an elaborated introduction, figures 1 and 2, and sections 4.3.1 and 5.2
Motivated by a scarcity of simple and analytically tractable models of superconductivity from strong repulsive interactions, we introduce a simple tight-binding lattice model of fermions with repulsive interactions that exhibits unconventional superconductivity (beyond BCS theory). The model resembles an idealized conductor-dielectric-conductor trilayer. The Cooper pair consists of electrons on opposite sides of the dielectric, which mediates the attraction. In the strong coupling limit, we use degenerate perturbation theory to show that the model reduces to a superconducting hard-core Bose-Hubbard model. Above the superconducting critical temperature, an analog of pseudo-gap physics results where the fermions remain Cooper paired with a large single-particle energy gap.
Unconventional symmetries of the order parameter allowed some researchers to maintain that a purely repulsive interaction between electrons provides superconductivity without phonons in a number of high-temperature superconductors. It is shown that the Cooper pairing in p and d states is not possible with the realistic Coulomb repulsion between fermions at relevant temperatures in any dimension.
Possibility of superconductivity from electron repulsion in the Shastry-Sutherland lattice, which has a spin gap at half filling, is explored with the repulsive Hubbard model in the fluctuation-exchange approximation. We find that, while superconductivity is not favored around the half-filling, superconductivity is favored around the quarter-filling. Our results suggest that the Fermi surface nesting is more important than the spin dimerization for superconductivity.
We study a model of a two-dimensional repulsive Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling $α_R$, and investigate the superconducting instability using renormalization group approach. We find that in general superconductivity is enhanced as the dimensionless ratio 1/2mα_R^2/E_F$ increases, resulting in unconventional superconducting states which break time reversal symmetry.
Study of superconductivity in layered iron-based materials was initiated in 2006 by Hosono's group, and boosted in 2008 by the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, of 26 K in LaFeAsO1-xFx. Since then, enormous researches have been done on the materials, with Tc reaching as high as 55 K. Here, we review briefly experimental and theoretical results on atomic and electronic structures and magnetic and superconducting properties of FeAs-based superconductors and related compounds. We seek for clues for unconventional superconductivity in the materials.
We report the results of $^{77}$Se--nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in $α$-FeSe, which exhibits a similar crystal structure to the LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ superconductor and shows superconductivity at 8 K. The nuclear-spin lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ shows $T^3$ behavior below the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ without a coherence peak. The $T_1T=$ const. behavior, indicative of the Fermi liquid state, can be seen in a wide temperature range above $T_c$. The superconductivity in $α$-FeSe is also an unconventional one as well as LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ and related materials. The Fe…
We report evidence for unconventional superconductivity in CeIn_3 at a pressure P = 2.65 GPa above critical pressure (P_c ~ 2.5 GPa) revealed by the measurements of nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation time (T_1) and ac-susceptibility (ac-chi). Both the measurements of T_1 and ac-chi have pointed to a superconducting transition at T_c = 95 mK, which is much lower than an onset temperature T_{onset} = 0.15 K at zero resistance. The temperature dependence of 1/T_1 shows no coherence peak just below T_c, indicative of an unconventional nature for the superconductivity induced in CeIn_3.
We suggest that superconductivity (SC) in the organic charge transfer solids (CTS) is reached from a Bond-Charge Density Wave (BCDW). We discuss an effective model for the BCDW to SC transition, an attractive U extended Hubbard Hamiltonian with repulsive nearest neighbor interaction V. We discuss experimental consequences of the theory for different classes of CTS superconductors as well as related inorganic materials.
We study electron correlation driven superconductivity on a decorated honeycomb lattice (DHL), which has a low-energy flat band. On doping, we find singlet superconductivity with extended-s, extended-d and f-wave symmetry mediated by magnetic exchange. f-wave singlet pairing is enabled by the lattice decoration. The critical temperature is predicted to be significantly higher than on similar lattices lacking flat bands. We discuss how high-temperature superconductivity could be realized in the DHL materials such as Rb3TT. 2 H2O and Mo3S7(dmit)3.
There is intense controversy around the unconventional superconductivity in strontium ruthenate, where the various theoretical and experimental studies suggest diverse and mutually exclusive pairing symmetries. Currently, the investigation is solely focused on only one material, Sr2RuO4, and the field suffers from the lack of comparison targets. Here, employing a density functional theory based analysis, we show that the heterostructure composed of SrRuO3 and SrTiO3 is endowed with all the key characteristics of Sr2RuO4, and, in principle, can host superconductivity. Furthermore, we show that …
The explanation of heavy-fermion superconductivity is a long-standing challenge to theory. It is commonly thought to be connected to non-local fluctuations of either spin or charge degrees of freedom and therefore of unconventional type. Here we present results for the Kondo-lattice model, a paradigmatic model to describe heavy-fermion compounds, obtained from dynamical mean-field theory which captures local correlation effects only. Unexpectedly, we find robust s-wave superconductivity in the heavy-fermion state. We argue that this novel type of pairing is tightly connected to the formation o…
In quantum materials, electrons that have strong correlations tend to localize, leading to quantum spins as the building blocks for low-energy physics. When strongly correlated electrons coexist with more weakly-correlated conduction electrons, multiple channels of effective interactions develop and compete with each other. The competition creates quantum fluctuations having a large spectral weight, with the associated entropies reaching significant fractions of $R\ln 2$ per electron. Advancing a framework to understand how the fluctuating local moments influence unconventional superconductivi…
We discuss a physical mechanism of a non-BCS nature which can stabilize a superconducting state in a {\it strongly repulsive} electronic system. By considering the two-dimensional Hubbard model with spatially modulated electron hoppings, we demonstrate how kinetic-energy frustration can lead to robust d-wave superconductivity at {\it arbitrarily} large on-site repulsion. This phenomenon should be observable in experiments using fermionic atoms, e.g. ${}^{40}K$, in specially prepared optical lattices.
The two-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model has been investigated by a variety of methods, from small to large U. Superconductivity with d-wave symmetry is consistently found close to half filling. After a brief review of the various methods a variational many-electron state is discussed in more detail. This trial state is a natural extension of the Gutzwiller ansatz and provides a substantial improvement thereof.
Properties of superfluid states of two-dimensional electron systems with critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations are investigated. These correlations are found to result in the emergence of rapidly varying in the momentum space terms in all components of the mass operator, including the gap function $Δ({\bf p})$. It is shown that a domain, where these terms reside, shrinks with the temperature, leading to a significant difference between the temperature $T_c$, at which superconductivity is terminated, and the temperature $T^*$, where the gap in the single-particle spectrum vanishes.
We report point contact measurements in high quality single crystals of Cu0.2Bi2Se3. We observe three different kinds of spectra: (1) Andreev-reflection spectra, from which we infer a superconducting gap size of 0.6mV; (2) spectra with a large gap which closes above Tc at about 10K; and (3) tunneling-like spectra with zero-bias conductance peaks. These tunneling spectra show a very large gap of ~2meV (2Delta/KTc ~ 14).
We present a novel route for attaining unconventional superconductivity (SC) in a strongly correlated system without doping. In a simple model of a correlated band insulator (BI) at half-filling we demonstrate, based on a generalization of the projected wavefunctions method, that SC emerges when e-e interactions and the bare band-gap are both much larger than the kinetic energy, provided the system has sufficient frustration against the magnetic order. As the interactions are tuned, SC appears sandwiched between the correlated BI followed by a paramagnetic metal on one side, and a ferrimagneti…
Realistic selfconsistent calculations of unconventional superconductivity in a heavy-fermion material are reported. Our calculations for UPd$_2$Al$_3$ start from accurate energy band dispersions that are computed within the local spin-density functional theory and provide Fermi surfaces in agreement with experiment. Using physically motivated, realistic pairing potentials it is shown that the superconducting gap has two lines of nodes around the z-axis, thus exhibiting d-wave symmetry in the $A_{1g}$ representation of the $D_{6h}$ point group. Our results suggest that in a superconductor with …
We briefly overview the importance of Hubbard and Anderson-lattice models as applied to explanation of high-temperature and heavy-fermion superconductivity. Application of the models during the last two decades provided an explanation of the paired states in correlated fermion systems and thus extended essentially their earlier usage to the description of itinerant magnetism, fluctuating valence, and the metal-insulator transition. In second part, we also present some of the new results concerning the unconventional superconductivity and obtained very recently in our group. A comparison with e…
We show that superconductivity is absent within the 1/2-filled band triangular lattice repulsive Hubbard model that has been proposed for organic charge-transfer solids. We posit that organic superconductivity is rather reached from a Bond-Charge Density Wave that either constitutes the insulating state proximate to superconductivity, or is extremely close in energy to the antiferromagnetic state, and replaces the latter under pressure. The Bond-Charge Density Wave can be described within an effective attractive $U$ extended Hubbard Hamiltonian with repulsive nearest neighbor interaction $V$. …
I study an Extended Periodic Anderson Model (EPAM) with non-local hybridisation, $V_{fc}$, and a coulomb interaction, $U_{fc}$, between localised $f$ electrons and wide band conduction ($c$) electrons. Within DMFT, a quantum phase transition (QPT) driven by soft $f$-valence fluctuations, accompanied by a discontinuous jump in the Fermi volume, is found as $V_{fc}$ is tuned across a critical value. Near the associated QCP, an unconventional superconductive instability, driven by these extended, singular valence fluctuations, naturally emerges. {\it All} these phenomena are representative of obs…
We review magnetic, superconducting and non-Fermi-liquid properties of the structurally layered heavy-fermion compounds Ce$_n$M$_m$In$_{3n+2m}$ (M=Co, Rh, Ir). These properties suggest d-wave superconductivity and proximity to an antiferromagetic quantum-critical point.
Superconductivity without phonons has been proposed for strongly correlated electron materials that are tuned close to a zero-temperature magnetic instability of itinerant charge carriers. Near this boundary, quantum fluctuations of magnetic degrees of freedom assume the role of phonons in conventional superconductors, creating an attractive interaction that glues electrons into superconducting pairs. Here we show that superconductivity can arise from a very different spectrum of fluctuations associated with a local or Kondo-breakdown quantum-critical point that is revealed in isotropic scatte…
We have measured the magnetic penetration depth of the recently discovered binary superconductor MgB_2 using muon spin rotation and low field $ac$-susceptibility. From the damping of the muon precession signal we find the penetration depth at zero temperature is about 85nm. The low temperature penetration depth shows a quadratic temperature dependence, indicating the presence of nodes in the superconducting energy gap.
Taking into account the first localization corrections in the electron-impurity self-energy we study the effect of non-magnetic impurities on unconventional superconductivity (SC) mediated by small-q electron-phonon scattering. We show that when van Hove singularities are close to the Fermi level making the electronic system anisotropic as in the high-$T_c$ oxides, both the d-wave and s-wave states are sensitive to non-magnetic impurities and beyond a critical impurity concentration SC disappears in {\it both gap symmetry channels}. Impurity doping may induce a first order transition from d-wa…
A repulsive interaction model of superconductivity (SC) is studied for tight-binding models with three-fold degenerate molecular orbitals. Taking a weak-coupling approach, we derive dimensionless coupling constants for various symmetries of SC pairs. In addition to anisotropic SC pairs, the s-wave pairing ($A_g$) can also be formed. With the purely repulsive interaction, however, the $A_g$ pair is not the most stable in both bcc and fcc lattices. The most stable SC pair for the bcc lattice has the $T_g$ symmetry, which is favored by a strongly nesting Fermi surface. In the fcc lattice, various…
We review the studies on the emergent phases of superconductvity and magnetism in the $f$-electron derived heavy-fermion (HF) systems by means of the nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) under pressure. These studies have unraveled a rich variety of the phenomena in the ground state of HF systems. In this article, we highlight the novel phase diagrams of magnetism and unconventional superconductivity (SC) in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, HF antiferromagnets CeRhIn$_5$, and CeIn$_3$. A new light is shed on the difference and common features on the interplay between magnetism and SC on the magnetic criticality.
In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of superconductivity in electron-doped metal nitride halides $M$N$X$ ($M$ = Ti, Zr, Hf; $X$ = Cl, Br, I) with layered crystal structure and two-dimensional electronic states. The parent compounds are band insulators with no discernible long-range ordered state. Upon doping tiny amount of electrons, superconductivity emerges with several anomalous features beyond the conventional electron-phonon mechanism, which stimulate theoretical investigations. We will discuss experimental and theoretical results reported thus far and compare the electron…
Elastic neutron diffraction measurements were performed on the quasi-two dimensional heavy fermion system CeRh1-xCoxIn5, ranging from an incommensurate antiferromagnet for low x to an unconventional superconductor on the Co-rich end of the phase diagram. We found that the superconductivity competes with the incommensurate antiferromagnetic (AFM) order characterized by qI=(1/2, 1/2, delta) with delta=0.298, while it coexists with the commensurate AFM order with qc=(1/2, 1/2, 1/2). This is in sharp contrast to the CeRh1-xIrxIn5 system, where both the commensurate and incommensurate magnetic orde…
We have investigated the Se isotope effect in layered bismuth chalcogenide (BiCh2-based) superconductor LaO0.6F0.4Bi(S,Se)2 with 76Se and 80Se. For all examined samples, the Se concentration, which is linked to the superconducting properties, is successfully controlled within x = 1.09-1.14 in LaO0.6F0.4BiS2-xSex. From the magnetization and electrical resistivity measurements, changes in Tc are not observed for the LaO0.6F0.4Bi(S,Se)2 samples with 76Se and 80Se isotopes. Our results suggest that pairing in the BiCh2-based superconductors is not mediated by phonons, and unconventional supercondu…
Have you been lying awake wondering what symmetries determine whether a superconductor is spin singlet, triplet, or both? We show that if BCS theory is supplied with additional degrees of freedom, spin singlet can coexist with spin triplet superconductivity. In the first part, we didactically guide the reader to the most general superconducting state using symmetry arguments. If both singlet and triplet pairing channels are present, a magnetic field can convert between spin singlet and triplet states. In the second part, we discuss two possible singlet-triplet superconductors: CeRh$_2$As$_2$ a…
Attempts to explain correlated-electron superconductivity have largely focused on the proximity of the superconducting state to antiferromagnetism. Yet, there exist many correlated-electron systems that exhibit insulator-superconducting transitions where the insulating state exhibits spatial broken symmetry different from antiferromagnetism. Here we focus on a subset of such compounds which are seemingly very different in which specific chemical stoichiometries play a distinct role, and small deviations from stoichiometry can destroy superconductivity. These superconducting materials share a u…
High pressure electrical resistivity and x-ray diffraction experiments have been performed on Fe single crystals. The crystallographic investigation provides direct evidence that in the martensitic $bcc \rightarrow hcp$ transition at 14 GPa the $\lbrace 110\rbrace_{bcc}$ become the $\lbrace 002\rbrace_{hcp}$ directions. During a pressure cycle, resistivity shows a broad hysteresis of 6.5 GPa, whereas superconductivity, observed between 13 and 31 GPa, remains unaffected. Upon increasing pressure an electronic instability, probably a quantum critical point, is observed at around 19 GPa and, clos…
Inspired by the recent experimental evidence of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity coexistence in heavy fermion CeRhIn$_5$, we propose a fully microscopic approach based on the idea of real space pairing within the Anderson-Kondo lattice model. We present an overall phase diagram incorporating the emergence of a quantum critical point, where Kondo insulating (KI), antiferromagnetic (AF) and superconducting (SC) phases meet. We also obtain the Kondo insulating state with totally compensated magnetic moments as the parental state for the emerging SC phases. Furthermore, the coexistent (AF+…
We study electronic ordering instabilities of twisted bilayer graphene with $n=2$ electrons per supercell, where correlated insulator state and superconductivity are recently observed. Motivated by the Fermi surface nesting and the proximity to Van Hove singularity, we introduce a hot-spot model to study the effect of various electron interactions systematically. Using renormalization group method, we find $d$/$p$-wave superconductivity and charge/spin density wave emerge as the two types of leading instabilities driven by Coulomb repulsion. The density wave state has a gapped energy spectrum …
To pinpoint the microscopic mechanism for superconductivity has proven to be one of the most outstanding challenges in the physics of correlated quantum matter. Thus far, the most direct evidence for an electronic pairing mechanism is the observation of a new symmetry of the order-parameter, as done in the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. Like distinctions based on the symmetry of a locally defined order-parameter, global, topological invariants allow for a sharp discrimination between states of matter that cannot be transformed into each other adiabatically. Here we propose an unconv…
We propose a mechanism of unconventional superconductivity in two-dimensional strongly-correlated electron systems. We consider a two-dimensional Kondo lattice system or double-exchange system with spin-orbit coupling arising from buckling of the plane. We show that a Chern-Simons term is induced for a gauge field describing the phase fluctuations of the localized spins. Through the induced Chern-Simons term, carriers behave like skyrmion excitations that lead to a destruction mechanism of magnetic long-range order by carrier doping. After magnetic long-range order is destroyed by carrier dopi…
75As-zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements are performed on CaFe2As2 under pressure. At P = 4.7 and 10.8 kbar, the temperature dependences of nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T1) measured in the tetragonal phase show no coherence peak just below Tc(P) and decrease with decreasing temperature. The superconductivity is gapless at P = 4.7 kbar but evolves to that with multiple gaps at P = 10.8 kbar. We find that the superconductivity appears near a quantum critical point under pressures in the range 4.7 kbar < P < 10.8 kbar. Both el…
The cluster size dependence of superconductivity in the conventional two-dimensional Hubbard model, commonly believed to describe high-temperature superconductors, is systematically studied using the Dynamical Cluster Approximation and Quantum Monte Carlo simulations as cluster solver. Due to the non-locality of the d-wave superconducting order parameter, the results on small clusters show large size and geometry effects. In large enough clusters, the results are independent of the cluster size and display a finite temperature instability to d-wave superconductivity.
An overview is given on how superconductivity with anisotropic pairing can be realised from repulsive electron-electron interaction. (i) We start from the physics in one dimension, where the Tomonaga-Luttinger theory predicts that, while there is no superconducting phase for the repulsive case for a single chain, the phase does exists in ladders with the number of legs equal to or greater than two, as shown both by analytically (renormalisation) and numerically (quantum Monte Carlo). (ii) We then show how this pairing has a natural extension to the two-dimensional case, where anisotropic (usua…
Fractal Hofstadter bands have become widely accessible with the advent of moiré superlattices, opening the door to studies of the effect of interactions in these systems. In this work we employ a renormalization group (RG) analysis to demonstrate that the combination of repulsive interactions with the presence of a tunable manifold of Van Hove singularities provides a new mechanism for driving unconventional superconductivity in Hofstadter bands. Specifically, the number of Van Hove singularities at the Fermi energy can be controlled by varying the flux per unit cell and the electronic filling…
We propose a mechanism of superconductivity from purely repulsive interactions in the strong coupling regime, where the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) mechanism such as the spin-fluctuation approach is difficult to apply. Based on the SU(2) slave-rotor representation of the Hubbard model, we find that the single energy scale for the amplitude formation of Cooper pairs and their phase coherence is separated into two energy scales, allowing the so called pseudogap state where such Cooper pairs are coherent locally but not globally, interpreted as realization of the density-phase uncertainty pri…
Unconventional superconductivity and magnetism are intertwined on a microscopic level in a wide class of materials, including high-$T_c$ cuprates, iron pnictides, and heavy-fermion compounds. A new approach to this most fundamental and hotly debated subject focuses on the role of interactions between superconducting electrons and bosonic fluctuations at the interface between adjacent layers in heterostructures. A recent state-of-the-art molecular-beam-epitaxy technique has enabled us to fabricate superlattices consisting of different heavy-fermion compounds with atomic thickness. These Kondo s…
We present sensitive measurements of the Hall effect and magnetoresistance in CeIrIn${_5}$ down to temperatures of 50 mK and magnetic fields up to 15 T. The presence of a low temperature coherent Kondo state is established. Deviations from Kohler's rule and a quadratic temperature dependence of the cotangent of the Hall angle are reminiscent of properties observed in the high temperature superconducting cuprates. The most striking observation pertains to the presence of a \textit{precursor} state--characterized by a change in the Hall mobility--that appears to precede the superconductivity in …
We report measurements of the ^{115}In nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T_1) between T=0.09 K and 100 K in the new heavy fermion (HF) compound CeIrIn_5. At 0.4 K < T < 100 K, 1/T_1 is strongly T-dependent, which indicates that CeIrIn_5 is much more itinerant than known Ce-based HFs. We find that 1/T_1T, subtracting that for LaIrIn_5, follows a 1/(T+θ)^{3/4} variation with θ=8 K. We argue that this novel feature points to anisotropic, due to a layered crystal structure, spin fluctuations near a magnetic ordering. The bulk superconductivity sets in at 0.40 K below which the coherence peak…
The superconducting property of recently discovered sodium cobalt oxyhydrate, Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_2$1.3H$_2$O ($T_c=4.5$ K), has been studied by means of muon spin rotation/relaxation ($μ$SR) down to 2 K. It was found that the zero-field muon spin relaxation rate is independent of the temperature, indicating that no static magnetism appears in this compound, at least above 2 K. The result also provides evidence against the breakdown of time-reversal symmetry for the superconducting order parameter. Meanwhile, the muon Knight shift at 60 kOe shows no obvious reduction below $T_c$, suggesting that t…
Spin dynamics evolution of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ was probed as a function of P concentration via $^{31}$P NMR. Our NMR study reveals that two-dimensional antiferromagnetic (AF) fluctuations are notably enhanced with little change in static susceptibility on approaching the AF phase from the superconducting dome. Moreover, magnetically ordered temperature $θ$ deduced from the relaxation rate vanishes at optimal doping. These results provide clear-cut evidence for a quantum-critical point (QCP), suggesting that the AF fluctuations associated with the QCP play a central role in the high-$…
We employ the weak-coupling renormalization group approach to study unconventional superconducting phases emerging in the extended, repulsive Hubbard model on paradigmatic two-dimensional lattices. Repulsive interactions usually lead to higher-angular momentum Cooper pairing. By considering not only longer-ranged hoppings, but also non-local electron-electron interactions, we are able to find superconducting solutions for all irreducible representations on the square and hexagonal lattices, including extended regions of chiral topological superconductivity. For the square, triangular and honey…
In this review article we present a survey of unconventional superconductors and their coexistence behaviour with magnetism. We focus on Ce- and U-based heavy fermion superconductors, in addition we discuss the rare earth borocarbide and skutterudite superconductors. We show that heavy fermion behaviour in Ce- and U- compounds should be described differently. While the Kondo-lattice model with localised 4f-electrons is appropriate for Ce-compounds, dual models including localised and itinerant 5f-electrons are necessary for U-compounds. We demonostrate that this leads to consistent results for…
A three-fermion problem in a three-dimensional lattice with anisotropic hopping is solved by discretizing the Schroedinger equation in momentum space. Interparticle interaction comprises on-site Hubbard repulsion and in-plane nearest-neighbor attraction. By comparing the energy of three-fermion bound clusters (trions) with the energy of one pair plus one free particle, a trion formation threshold is accurately determined, and the region of pair stability is mapped out. It is found that the "close-packed" density of fermion pairs is highest in a strongly anisotropic model. It is also argued tha…
Since the discovery of superconductivity in LaFePO in 2006, numerous iron-based superconductors have been identified within diverse structure families, all of which combine iron with a group-V (pnictogen) or group-VI (chalco- gen) element. Unconventional superconductivity is extremely rare among transition metal compounds outside these layered iron systems and the cuprates, and it is almost universally associated with highly anisotropic electronic properties and nearly 2D Fermi surface geometries. The iron-based intermetallic YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ features a 3D Fermi surface and a strongly enhanced lo…
In 1994, an unconventional form of superconductivity was detected in strontium ruthenate. The discovery has shed light on the mechanism of unconventional superconductivity at high temperatures. "The great tragedy of Science [is] the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an [experimental] fact." - T.H. Huxley, Biogenesis and abiogenesis, (1884)
Superconductivity is a remarkably widespread phenomenon observed in most metals cooled down to very low temperatures. The ubiquity of such conventional superconductors, and the wide range of associated critical temperatures, is readily understood in terms of the celebrated Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. Occasionally, however, unconventional superconductors are found, such as the iron-based materials, which extend and defy this understanding in new and unexpected ways. In the case of the iron-based superconductors, this includes a new appreciation of the ways in which the presence of m…
We report on the itinerant ferromagnetic superconductor UGe_2 through ^73Ge-NQR measurements under pressure (P). The P dependence of the NQR spectrum signals a first-order transition from the low-temperature (T) and low-P ferromagnetic phase (FM2) to high-T and high-P one (FM1) around a critical pressure of P_x ~ 1.2 GPa. The superconductivity exhibiting a maximum value of T_sc=0.7 K at P_x ~ 1.2 GPa, was found to take place in connection with the P-induced first-order transition. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 has probed the ferromagnetic transition, exhibiting a peak at the C…
We present a well-controlled perturbative renormalization group (RG) treatment of superconductivity from short-ranged repulsive interactions in a variety of model two dimensional electronic systems. Our analysis applies in the limit where the repulsive interactions between the electrons are small compared to their kinetic energy.
We consider possible high temperature superconductivity (high-T$_c$) in transition metal compounds with a cubic zinc-blende lattice structure. When the electron filling configuration in the d-shell is close to d$^7$, all three t$_{2g}$ orbitals are near half filling with strong nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic (AFM) superexchange interactions. We argue that upon doping, this electronic environment can be one of "genes" to host unconventional high T$_c$ with a time reversal symmetry broken $d_{2z^2-x^2-y^2} \pm i d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing symmetry. With gappless nodal points along the diagonal dir…
We report Sb-NQR results which evidence a heavy-fermion (HF) behavior and an unconventional superconducting (SC) property in the filled-skutterudite compound PrOs_4Sb_12 revealing a SC transition temperature T_c=1.85 K. The temperature (T) dependence of nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation rate 1/T_1 and NQR frequency unravel a low-lying crystal-electric-field splitting below T_0~10 K, associated with Pr^3+ (4f^2)-derived ground state. The emergence of T_1T=const. behavior below T_F~4 K points to the formation of heavy-quasiparticle state. In the SC state, 1/T_1 shows neither a coherence peak nor a…
