title: Suppression of proximity effect and the enhancement of p-wave superconductivity in the Sr2RuO4-Ru system.
abstract: We report unexpected phenomena observed on the Sr2RuO4-Ru eutectic phase featuring Ru islands embedded in a bulk crystal of the chiral p-wave superconductor Sr2RuO4. It was found that the Sr2RuO4/Ru interface is atomically sharp, terminated uniformly by a Sr/O layer. Surprisingly, the proximity-induced p-wave superconducting energy gap predicted by theory was not detected inside Ru islands. Our results suggest that the previously observed enhancement of superconductivity in this eutectic phase occurs away from rather than near the Sr2RuO4/Ru interface, where dislocations and phonon hardening were found.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Clouser
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Staley
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Allard
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fobes
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu