$\mu$SR Investigation of Superconducting PbTaSe$_2$

ORAL

Abstract

Noncentrosymmetric superconductors are a topic of considerable interest in the condensed matter physics community. These materials have the potential to exhibit exotic superconducting states, particularly in the presence of strong spin orbit coupling. PbTaSe$_2$ is a noncentrosymmetric material which has very strong spin orbit coupling, and is superconducting with a T$_C$ of 3.6~K. Previous studies of this material have identified exotic properties such as Dirac cones gapped by spin-orbit coupling [1], a topological semi-metal state, and possible multi-band superconductivity [2]. To further explore this material, it is of considerable interest to investigate the pairing symmetry of the superconducting state, and determine whether odd-parity superconductivity may exist. In this talk we will present a $\mu$SR investigation of the penetration depth temperature dependece to infer the pairing symmetry. We will also present zero field $\mu$SR measurements which suggest that this material has an even-parity superconducting state. [1] M.N. Ali et al. Physical Review B 69, 020505(R) (2014) [2] C.-L. Zhang et al. Physical Review B 93, 054520 (2016)

Authors

  • Murray Wilson

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, McMaster University

  • Alannah Hallas

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University

  • Yipeng Cai

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, McMaster University

  • Shengli Guo

    Department of Physics, Zhejiang University

  • Zizhou Gong

    Department of Physics, Colombia University

  • Mazhar Ali

    Department of Chemistry, Princeton University

  • R. J. Cava

    Princeton, Department of Chemistry Princeton University, Princeton University, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton University, USA, Princeton Univ

  • Yasutomo Uemura

    Department of Physics, Colombia University, Columbia University

  • Graeme Luke

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, McMaster University