Superconducting thin films of heavy-fermion compound CeCoIn5 prepared by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

Highly c-axis oriented thin films of Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 were grown on Cr∕MgO substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The films consist of micrograins which are strongly oriented in c axis but are random in the film plane. Kondo temperature, superconducting transition temperature, and upper critical fields of the films are very close to those of single crystals.

Pulsed laser deposition of CeCoIn5 thin films

“…However, the temperature dependence of the upper critical field H c2 with H parallel to the substrate, determined at the onset of superconductivity and shown in the inset, is comparable with literature data for bulk samples [1] and again indicates that the crystallites are CeCoIn 5 . The critical temperature of 1.95 K is reduced from the bulk value of 2.3 K but comparable with other thin film data [7][8][9].…”

“…Reducing the film thickness towards the penetration depth and transport measurements can serve as a test of the FFLO state. So far, only fibre textured films of CeCoIn 5 are reported in the literature [7][8][9].…”

Josephson effect in CeCoIn5microbridges as seen via quantum interferometry

“…For selected materials efforts in this direction have been successful [7][8][9] and have eventually led to well characterized tunnel junctions [10][11][12] . For CeCoIn 5 , however, attempts by severals groups have so far not led to epitaxial growth [13][14][15] . As a possible way out of this difficulty we have previously developed a technique for addressing individual growth domains or microcrystals in c-axis oriented thin films of CeCoIn 5 by combining focused ion beam (FIB) etching and focused particle beam induced deposition with appropriate precursors [16][17][18] .…”

Growth and properties of heavy fermion CeCu2Ge2 and CeFe2Ge2 thin films

“…However, the epitaxial growth of heavy fermion thin films has been an experimental challenge. There have been some reported heavy fermion epitaxial films, including CeCu 6 , 3,4 CeCu 2 Si 2 , 11 UBe 13 , 12 UPd 2 Al 3 , 13 CeCoIn 5 , 14 and CeIn 3 . 15 Here, we report the epitaxial growth of CCG and CFG thin films.…”