High resolution polar Kerr effect measurements of Sr2RuO4: evidence for broken time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state.
The polar Kerr effect in the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4 was measured with high precision using a Sagnac interferometer with a zero-area Sagnac loop. We observed nonzero Kerr rotations as big as 65 nanorad appearing below Tc in large domains. Our results imply a broken time-reversal symmetry state in the superconducting state of Sr2RuO4, similar to 3He-A.
Xia
Jing
J
Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Maeno
Yoshiteru
Y
Beyersdorf
Peter T
PT
Fejer
M M
MM
Kapitulnik
Aharon
A