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Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr

Re(6)Zr, a non-centrosymmetric superconductor is an interesting system as recent experimental evidence suggests that the superconducting state breaks time reversal symmetry. This implies a mixing of spin singlet-triplet states leading to a complex order parameter in this system. Here, we report poin...

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Autores principales: Parab, Pradnya, Singh, Deepak, Haram, Santosh, Singh, R. P., Bose, Sangita
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6385355/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30792466
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39160-y
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author Parab, Pradnya
Singh, Deepak
Haram, Santosh
Singh, R. P.
Bose, Sangita
author_facet Parab, Pradnya
Singh, Deepak
Haram, Santosh
Singh, R. P.
Bose, Sangita
author_sort Parab, Pradnya
collection PubMed
description Re(6)Zr, a non-centrosymmetric superconductor is an interesting system as recent experimental evidence suggests that the superconducting state breaks time reversal symmetry. This implies a mixing of spin singlet-triplet states leading to a complex order parameter in this system. Here, we report point contact Andreev Reflection (PCAR) measurements on a single crystal of Re(6)Zr (superconducting transition temperature (T(c)) = 6.78 K). We observe multiple gap features in the PCAR spectra which depends on the type of tip and contact. Spectral features appear at voltages 1.0 ± 0.1 mV, 0.75 ± 0.05 mV and 0.45 ± 0.1 mV suggesting that there are at least more than one band contributing to superconductivity. However, strong surface inter-band scattering is possibly responsible for the uncertainty in observing them together distinctly in a single contact in the PCAR measurements. Interestingly, the bulk gap (Δ  = 1.95k(B)T(c) = 1.1 meV) is occasionally observed in PCAR spectra, mostly with ferromagnetic tips. The gap features associated with the other two smaller gaps disappear at the bulk T(c). In addition, no anisotropy in the upper critical field was observed. Our results suggest an unconventional superconducting order in this compound: Multiband singlet states dominated by inter-band pairing which break the time reversal symmetry or singlet mixed with triplet states.
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spelling pubmed-63853552019-02-27 Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr Parab, Pradnya Singh, Deepak Haram, Santosh Singh, R. P. Bose, Sangita Sci Rep Article Re(6)Zr, a non-centrosymmetric superconductor is an interesting system as recent experimental evidence suggests that the superconducting state breaks time reversal symmetry. This implies a mixing of spin singlet-triplet states leading to a complex order parameter in this system. Here, we report point contact Andreev Reflection (PCAR) measurements on a single crystal of Re(6)Zr (superconducting transition temperature (T(c)) = 6.78 K). We observe multiple gap features in the PCAR spectra which depends on the type of tip and contact. Spectral features appear at voltages 1.0 ± 0.1 mV, 0.75 ± 0.05 mV and 0.45 ± 0.1 mV suggesting that there are at least more than one band contributing to superconductivity. However, strong surface inter-band scattering is possibly responsible for the uncertainty in observing them together distinctly in a single contact in the PCAR measurements. Interestingly, the bulk gap (Δ  = 1.95k(B)T(c) = 1.1 meV) is occasionally observed in PCAR spectra, mostly with ferromagnetic tips. The gap features associated with the other two smaller gaps disappear at the bulk T(c). In addition, no anisotropy in the upper critical field was observed. Our results suggest an unconventional superconducting order in this compound: Multiband singlet states dominated by inter-band pairing which break the time reversal symmetry or singlet mixed with triplet states. Nature Publishing Group UK 2019-02-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6385355/ /pubmed/30792466 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39160-y Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Parab, Pradnya
Singh, Deepak
Haram, Santosh
Singh, R. P.
Bose, Sangita
Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title_full Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title_fullStr Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title_full_unstemmed Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title_short Point contact Andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor Re(6)Zr
title_sort point contact andreev reflection studies of a non-centro symmetric superconductor re(6)zr
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6385355/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30792466
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39160-y
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