Coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in URhGe.
The discovery of superconductivity at high pressure (albeit over a restricted range) in the ferromagnetic material UGe2 raised the possibility that bulk superconductivity might be found in other ferromagnets. The exact symmetry of the paired state and the dominant mechanism responsible for the pairing, however, remain unidentified. Meanwhile, the conjecture that superconductivity could occur more generally in ferromagnets has been fuelled by the recent observation of a low-temperature transition that suggests an onset of superconductivity in high-quality crystals of the itinerant-ferromagnet ZrZn2 (ref. 2), although the thermodynamic signature of this transition could not be detected. Here we show that the ferromagnet URhGe is superconducting at ambient pressure. In this case, we find the thermodynamic signature of the transition-its form is consistent with a superconducting pairing of a spin-triplet type, although further testing with cleaner samples is needed to confirm this. The combination of superconductivity and ferromagnetism may thus be more common and consequently more important than hitherto realized.
Aoki
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D
CEA, Département de Recherche Fondamentale sur la Matière Condensée, SPSMS, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Huxley
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A
Ressouche
E
E
Braithwaite
D
D
Flouquet
J
J
Brison
J P
JP
Lhotel
E
E
Paulsen
C
C