Magnetic field driven complex phase diagram of antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion superconductor Ce3PtIn11

Abstract

We present the results of our comprehensive investigation on the antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion superconductor Ce3PtIn11 carried out by means of electrical transport, heat capacity and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements, performed on single-crystalline specimens down to 50 mK in external magnetic fields up to 9 T. Our experimental results elucidate a complex magnetic field – temperature phase diagram which contains both first- and second-order field-induced magnetic transitions and highlights the emergence of field stabilized phases. Remarkably, a prominent metamagnetic transition was found to occur at low temperatures and strong magnetic fields. In turn, the results obtained in the superconducting phase of Ce3PtIn11 corroborate an unconventional nature of Cooper pairs formed by heavy quasiparticles. The compound is an almost unique example of a heavy fermion system in which superconductivity may coexist microscopically with magnetically ordered state.

Successive magnetic transitions in the heavy-fermion superconductor Ce3PtIn11 studied by In115 nuclear quadrupole resonance

“…The detailed synthesis process and preliminary characterization data are reported elsewhere [28]. The sample contains a partial parasitic phase of CeIn 3 (less than 5%-10%) but has a fairly sharp superconducting transition at T c 0.33 K and two antiferromagnetic transitions at T N1 = 2.2 K and T N2 = 2.0 K, in agreement with the literature data [18,21]. For NQR measurements, the sample was fine powdered in order to reduce the heating-up effect at low temperatures and improve the NQR signal intensity.…”

“…Even in the antiferromagnetic state, they exhibit superconductivity below T c = 0.32 K (M = Pt) and 0.42 K (M = Pd) [19,20]. In each material, a further metamagnetic transition occurs in a high magnetic field [21,22]. This suggests that the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in the Ce 3 MIn 11 compounds is quite a unique phenomenon driven by the hybridization between f electrons of Ce ions and conduction electrons [23].…”

Magnetic field-driven quantum criticality in antiferromagnetic CePtIn 4

“…Although, one should notice that MR(H) follows a linear dependence without any dendency of a saturation at higher fields, which is quite unusual as regards heavy-fermion AFM systems. It is also worth to emphasize that similar behavior has previously been observed only in a few such systems, including Ce3TmIn11 (Tm= Pt and Pd) [30,31] and Ce2PdGa12 [37], yet its actual origin remains unclear.…”

“…In this context it is noteworthy to mention Ce3TmIn11 (n=3, m=1 and Tm=Pt, Pd) in particular, as it turns out to be quite a unique example where superconductivity coexists with AFM ordered state with a pressure induced quantum criticality [23,24]. Moreover, a field-induced phase diagram of this system is very complex [30,31]. These unusual observations pave the way to look for new CeTmIn (Tm= Pt and Pd) based ternary compounds including hypotheticalCePtIn5 and CePdIn5.…”

115In NQR Study in Dual-Ce Sites Heavy Fermion Superconductor Ce3PtIn11

“…Above situation may well explain the observed physical properties in the recently discovered HF material Ce 3 PtIn 11 [15][16][17]. The material belongs to the Ce n T m In 3n+2m class of layered materials to which also CeCoIn 5 , CeRhIn 5 and Ce 2 RhIn 8 belong.…”