Specific heat evidence for two-gap superconductivity in ternary-iron silicide Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$

TL;DR

This study provides specific heat evidence supporting two-gap superconductivity in Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$, a ternary-iron silicide, revealing its multiband nature and similarities to MgB$_{2}$.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed specific heat analysis confirming two-gap superconductivity in Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$ and supports this with band structure and critical field anisotropy data.

Findings

Evidence of two distinct superconducting gaps.

Reduced specific heat jump at $T_c$.

Support from band structure and critical field anisotropy.

Abstract

We report low-temperature specific heat studies on single-crystalline ternary-iron silicide superconductor Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$ with$T_c$ = 6.1 K down to $\sim T_c/20$. We confirm a reduced normalized jump in specific heat at $T_c$, and find that the specific heat divided by temperature $C/T$ shows sudden drop at $\sim T_c/5$ and goes to zero with further decreasing temperature. These results indicate the presence of two distinct superconducting gaps in Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$, similar to a typical two-gap superconductor MgB$_{2}$. We also report Hall coefficients, band structure calculation, and the anisotropy of upper critical fields for Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$, which support the anisotropic multiband nature and reinforce the existence of two superconducting gaps in Lu$_{2}$Fe$_{3}$Si$_{5}$.