2009/02/06 by H. Shakeripour, Shakeripour, H., M. A. Tanatar +6
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Iron-based superconductors research #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0902.1190
15 Pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2009/02/06 · openalex publication_date 2009/02/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The symmetry of the order parameter is the defining property of a superconductor and a strong clue to its pairing mechanism. While d-wave symmetry is firmly established in high-Tc superconductors, in no heavy-fermion superconductor is the symmetry known definitively. One way to elucidate the order parameter is to locate the symmetry-imposed nodes in the energy gap by measuring the heat carried by the zero-energy quasiparticles associated with those nodes as a function of direction. As verified in high-Tc superconductors a line of nodes yields universal heat transport independent of impurity scattering. Here we show that heat conduction in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn5 is also universal, but only for a current perpendicular to the tetragonal axis of its crystal structure, not parallel to it. This uniaxial anisotropy is strong evidence for a line of nodes in the basal plane, which is inconsistent with the d-wave symmetry proposed for the isostructural superconductor CeCoIn5. Different symmetries in the two materials would explain why the phase diagram of these heavy-fermion compounds consists of two separate superconducting domes.