Suppression of time reversal symmetry breaking superconductivity in Pr(Os,Ru)_4Sb_12 and (Pr,La)Os_4Sb_12
cond-mat.supr-con
/ Authors
Lei Shu, W. Higemoto, Y. Aoki, A. D. Hillier, K. Ohishi, K. Ishida, R. Kadono, A. Koda, O. O. Bernal, D. E. MacLaughlin
and 8 more authors
Y. Tunashima, Y. Yonezawa, S. Sanada, D. Kikuchi, H. Sato, H. Sugawara, T. U. Ito, M. B. Maple
/ Abstract
Zero-field muon spin relaxation experiments have been carried out in the Pr(Os_{1-x}Ru_x)_4Sb_12 and Pr_{1-y}La_yOs_4Sb_12 alloy systems to investigate broken time-reversal symmetry (TRS) in the superconducting state, signaled by the onset of a spontaneous static local magnetic field B_s. In both alloy series B_s initially decreases linearly with solute concentration. Ru doping is considerably more efficient than La doping, with a ~50% faster initial decrease. The data suggest that broken TRS is suppressed for Ru concentration x >~ 0.6, but persists for essentially all La concentrations. Our data support a crystal-field excitonic Cooper pairing mechanism for TRS-breaking superconductivity.