2002/12/31 by Jun Goryo
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Condensed matter physics #Iron-based superconductors research #Pairing #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum mechanics #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Skutterudite #Superconductivity #T-symmetry #Thermal conductivity #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.67.184511
7 pages, 1 figure, Minor corrections. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B
arxiv created 2003/04/15 · openalex publication_date 2003/05/08 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The two superconducting phases recently discovered in skutterudite PrOs4Sb12 are discussed by using the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory based on the the cubic (tetrahedral) crystal symmetry Th. Building on experimental input coming from the recent thermal conductivity measurements, the structure of the gap functions for these two phases are considered for the spin singlet pairing case. One of the phases, lying in the high temperature and high field region (the A phase) is a strongly ``anisotropic s-wave'' state, whereas the other phase (the B phase) is an ``anisotropic s+id-wave'' state. The B phase breaks cubic crystal symmetry and time reversal symmetry spontaneously. The cubic symmetry breaking in the B phase causes anomalous crystal strains which could be seen in the anisotropy of thermal expansions and isothermal elastic constants. As a signal of the time reversal symmetry breaking, it is expected that an internal spontaneous magnetization should be observed by the \ensuremathμSR measurement.