2002/07/09 by R. Vollmer, A. Faißt, C. Pfleiderer +7 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Inorganic Chemistry and Materials #Iron-based superconductors research #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.90.057001
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2002/07/09 · openalex publication_date 2003/02/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the magnetic field dependence of the specific-heat C of single crystals of the first Pr-based heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12. The variation of C at low temperature and the magnetic phase diagram inferred from C, the resistivity and magnetization provide compelling evidence of a doublet ground state. Two distinct superconducting anomalies in C indicate an unconventional superconducting state, where the splitting may arise from a weak lifting of the ground state degeneracy. In combination this identifies PrOs4Sb12 as a strong contender for quadrupolar pairing, i.e., superconductivity that is neither electron-phonon nor magnetically mediated.