Fermi surface of the heavy-fermion superconductorPrOs4Sb12

Superconductivity and the high-field ordered phase in the heavy-fermion compound PrOs4Sb12

“…Recently, Sugawara et al [14] The χ(T ) data for PrOs 4 Sb 12 exhibit a peak at ∼ 3 K and saturate to a value of ∼ 0.11 cm 3 /mol as T → 0, indicative of a nonmagnetic ground state. At temperatures above ∼ 5 K, χ(T ) is strongly T-dependent, as expected for well defined Pr 3+ magnetic moments.…”

Superconducting phase diagram of the filled skuterruditePrOs4Sb12

“…Here, knowing nothing about the pairing mechanism, we assume constant inter and intra band coupling, so that the relative weight of the λ i,j is only governed by the density of states of band j. This density of states is itself proportional to the contribution of that band to the specific heat Sommerfeld coefficient: 500mJ/K 2 .mol 1 for band 1, 20mJ/K 2 .mol for band 2 34,35 . The Fermi velocity of band 1 (not observed by de Haas-van Alphen measurements) is the main adjustable parameter of the fit : we find v from the de Haas-van Alphen data on the β band).…”

Fermi-surface topologies and low-temperature phases of the filled skutterudite compoundsCeOs4Sb12andNdOs4Sb12

“…To explore this idea further, knowledge of the Fermi surfaces of all three materials is essential. Whilst the Fermi surface of PrOs 4 Sb 12 is relatively well known 8 , those of CeOs 4 Sb 12 and NdOs 4 Sb 12 have been little studied. In this paper, we therefore use magnetic fields of up to 60 T to measure Fermi-surface cross-sections and effective masses for these two skutterudites.…”

“…Filled skutterudite compounds, with the formula MT 4 X 12 , where M is an alkali metal, alkaline-earth, lanthanide, or actinide, T is Fe, Ru, or Os and X is P, As, or Sb, display a wide variety of interesting phenomena caused by strong electron correlations [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . Amongst these, the three compounds CeOs 4 Sb 12 , PrOs 4 Sb 12 , and NdOs 4 Sb 12 , formed by employing Periodic- Table neighbors for M, span the range from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) semimetal 1,2 or perhaps Kondo insulator (M = Ce) [10] via a 1.85 K unconventional (quadrupolarfluctuation mediated 11 ) superconductor (M = Pr) [8] to a 1 K ferromagnet (FM; M = Nd) [12].…”

“…Amongst these, the three compounds CeOs 4 Sb 12 , PrOs 4 Sb 12 , and NdOs 4 Sb 12 , formed by employing Periodic- Table neighbors for M, span the range from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) semimetal 1,2 or perhaps Kondo insulator (M = Ce) [10] via a 1.85 K unconventional (quadrupolarfluctuation mediated 11 ) superconductor (M = Pr) [8] to a 1 K ferromagnet (FM; M = Nd) [12]. In view of the low ordering temperatures, all around 1−2 K, associated with their various groundstates, plus precedents in other unconventional superconductors 13,14 , it is tempting to speculate as to whether the superconductivity in M = Pr arises from close proximity to AFM and FM quantumcritical points, with the more explicitly magnetic M = Ce and M = Nd lying on the either side of the postulated quantum phase transitions.…”