A sensitive probe of unconventional order is its response to a symmetry-breaking field. To probe the proposed p(x) ± ip(y) topological superconducting state of Sr2RuO4, we have constructed an apparatus capable of applying both compressive and tensile strains of up to 0.23%. Strains applied along ⟨100⟩ crystallographic directions yield a strong, strain-symmetric increase in the superconducting transition temperature T(c). ⟨110⟩ strains give a much weaker, mostly antisymmetric response. As well as advancing the understanding of the superconductivity of Sr2RuO4, our technique has potential applicability to a wide range of problems in solid-state physics.
Sr & RuO ' is an unconventional superconductor that has attracted widespread study because of its high purity and the possibility that its superconducting order parameter has odd parity. We study the dependence of its superconductivity on anisotropic strain. Applying uniaxial pressures of up to ~1 GPa along a 〈100〉 direction ( -axis) of the crystal lattice results in . increasing from 1.5 K in the unstrained material to 3.4 K at compression by ≈0.6%, and then falling steeply. Calculations give evidence that the observed maximum . occurs at or near a Lifshitz transition when the Fermi level passes through a Van Hove singularity, and open the possibility that the highly strained, . =3.4 K Sr & RuO ' has an even-rather than an odd-parity order parameter.The formation of superconductivity by the condensation of electron pairs into a coherent
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