From detailed angle-resolved NMR and Meissner measurements on a ferromagnetic (FM) superconductor UCoGe (TCurie ∼ 2.5 K and TSC ∼ 0.6 K), we show that superconductivity in UCoGe is tightly coupled with longitudinal FM spin fluctuations along the c axis. We found that magnetic fields along the c axis (H c) strongly suppress the FM fluctuations and that the superconductivity is observed in the limited magnetic-field region where the longitudinal FM spin fluctuations are active. These results combined with model calculations strongly suggest that the longitudinal FM spin fluctuations tuned by H c induce the unique spin-triplet superconductivity in UCoGe. This is the first clear example that FM fluctuations are intimately related with superconductivity.PACS numbers: 71.27.+a 74.25.nj, 75.30.Gw The discovery of superconductivity in ferromagnetic (FM) UGe 2 opened up a new paradigm of superconductivity [1,2], since most unconventional superconductivity has been discovered in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase [3]. From the theoretical point of view, in an itinerant FM superconductor with the presence of a large energy splitting between the majority and minority spin Fermi surfaces, exotic spintriplet superconductivity is anticipated, in which pairing is between parallel spins within each spin Fermi surface. In addition, it has been argued that critical FM fluctuations near a quantum phase transition could mediate spin-triplet superconductivity [4]. However, there have been no experimental results indicating a relationship between FM fluctuations and superconductivity.Among the FM superconductors discovered so far, UCoGe is one of the most readily explored experimentally, because of its high superconducting (SC) transition temperature (T SC ) and low Curie temperature (T Curie ) at ambient pressure [5]. Microscopic measurements have shown that superconductivity occurs within the FM region, resulting in microscopic coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity [6,7]. Studies of the SC upper critical field (H c2 ) and its angle dependence along each crystalline axis have reported remarkable enigmatic behavior [8,9]: superconductivity survives far beyond the Pauli-limiting field along the a and b axes, whereas H c2 for fields along the c direction (H c c2 ) is as small as 0.5 T. Colossal H c2 for fields along the a and b axes seems to suggest spin triplet pairing. In addition, a steep angle dependence of H c2 was reported when the field was tilted slightly from the a axis toward the c axis [9]. The observed characteristic H c2 behavior is one of mysterious features of SC UCoGe and its origin can be related to the mechanism of the superconductivity.Unlike the three dimensional crystal structure, magnetic properties are strongly anisotropic [8]. The magnetization has Ising-like anisotropy with the c axis as a magnetic easy axis, and direction-dependent nuclear-spin lattice relaxation rate (1/T 1 ) measurements on a single crystalline sample have revealed the magnetic fluctuations in UCoGe to be Ising-...

Unambiguous evidence for the microscopic coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in UCoGe (T Curie $ 2:5 K and T SC $ 0:6 K) is reported from 59 Co nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR). The 59 Co-NQR signal below 1 K indicates ferromagnetism throughout the sample volume, while the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1=T 1 in the ferromagnetic (FM) phase decreases below T SC due to the opening of the superconducting (SC) gap. The SC state is found to be inhomogeneous, suggestive of a self-induced vortex state, potentially realizable in a FM superconductor. In addition, the 59 Co-NQR spectrum around T Curie shows that the FM transition in UCoGe possesses a first-order character, which is consistent with the theoretical prediction that the low-temperature FM transition in itinerant magnets is generically of first-order.KEYWORDS: ferromagnetic superconductor, U-based heavy-fermion, UCoGe, nuclear quadrupole resonance DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.79.023707After the discovery of superconductivity in UGe 2 under pressure, 1) the coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism becomes one of the major topics in condensedmatter physics. This is because ferromagnetism and spinsinglet superconductivity are thought to be mutually exclusive. 2,3) In the presence of a large splitting between the majority and minority spin Fermi surfaces, as in a ferromagnetic (FM) state, more-exotic spin-triplet superconductivity is allowed, in which parallel spins pair within each spin Fermi surface. While FM superconductors such as UIr 4) and URhGe 5) have recently been demonstrated to occur experimentally, proof that the same charge carriers participate simultaneously in both phenomena has remained elusive.In 2007, new ambient-pressure ferromagnetic (FM) superconductor UCoGe was discovered by Huy et al.6) UCoGe is a weak ferromagnet with T Curie ¼ 3 K and the ordered moments s ¼ 0:03 B , and shows superconductivity at the transition temperature T SC ¼ 0:8 K, 6) highest among FM superconductors. In order to investigate the correlation between ferromagnetism and superconductivity, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements are ideally suited, since they provide microscopic information about the electronic and magnetic properties without applying external fields. In a magnetically ordered state, the NQR signal splits or shifts due to internal fields at the nuclear site, and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1=T 1 provides siteselective information about the density of states at the Fermi level and thus about the superconducting (SC) gap structure. UCoGe is a FM superconductor suitable for NQR measurements, since it contains an NQR-active element of 59 Co. In the previous letter, we reported 59 Co-NQR studies in a polycrystalline UCoGe with T Curie ¼ 2:5 K and the SC onset temperature T onset SC ¼ 0:7 K. 7) We found inhomogeneous ferromagnetism below T Curie in the polycrystalline sample, from the observation of the FM and paramagnetic (PM) NQR spectra at lowest temperature. In addition, the SC anomaly was observed in 1=T 1 mea...

We have carried out direction-dependent 59Co NMR experiments on a single crystal sample of the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe in order to study the magnetic properties in the normal state. The Knight-shift and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate measurements provide microscopic evidence that both static and dynamic susceptibilities are ferromagnetic with strong Ising anisotropy. We discuss that superconductivity induced by these magnetic fluctuations prefers spin-triplet pairing state.

We report ac magnetic susceptibility and dc magnetization measurements on the superconducting ferromagnet UCoGe (with superconducting and Curie temperatures of TSC ∼ 0.5 K and TCurie ∼ 2.5 K, respectively). In the normal, ferromagnetic state (TSC < T < TCurie), the magnetization curve exhibits a hysteresis loop similar to that of a regular itinerant ferromagnet. Upon lowering the temperature below TSC, the spontaneous magnetization is unchanged, but the hysteresis is markedly enhanced. Even deeply inside the superconducting state, ferromagnetism is not completely shielded, and there is no Meissner region, a magnetic field region of H < Hc1 (a lower critical field). From these results, we suggest that UCoGe is the first material in which ferromagnetism robustly survives in the superconducting state and a spontaneous vortex state without the Meissner state is realized.

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