Strong enhancement of conventional superconductivity near a quantum critical point of (Ca,Sr)_3Ir_4Sn_13

TL;DR

This study reveals a quantum critical point in (Ca,Sr)_3Ir_4Sn_13 compounds where superconductivity is strongly enhanced near a charge density wave transition, showing conventional BCS behavior but with unconventional features.

Contribution

It provides microscopic evidence of a quantum critical point affecting superconductivity and charge density wave interplay in these cubic compounds.

Findings

Superfluid density and coupling strength increase sharply above 1.6 GPa.

Superconducting order parameter remains s-wave in both phases.

System exhibits unconventional features despite phonon-mediated pairing.

Abstract

Competing electronic states are found in the large majority of unconventional superconductors, including high-Tc cuprates, iron based superconductors and many heavy fermion systems. The complex interplay is reflected in phase diagrams as a function of doping or other tuning parameters involving besides superconducting other phases (often magnetic) and quantum critical points. Superconductivity is also found in the vicinity of charge density wave (CDW) order in phase diagrams reminiscent of superconductivity mediated by magnetic fluctuations. There is however less knowledge about the interplay of superconductivity and CDW compared to the magnetic analogon. Here we report about microscopic studies by muon spin rotation as a function of pressure of the Ca_3Ir_4Sn_13 and Sr_3Ir_4Sn_13 cubic compounds, which display superconductivity and a structural phase transition associated with the formation of a CDW. We find a strong enhancement of the superfluid density and of the coupling strength above a pressure of about 1.6 GPa giving direct evidence of the presence of a quantum critical point separating a superconducting phase coexisting with CDW from a pure superconducting phase. The superconducting order parameter in both phases are found to have the same s-wave symmetry. In spite of the conventional phonon-mediated BCS character of this compound, the dependence of the effective superfluid density on the critical temperature puts this system in the "Uemura" plot close to unconventional superconductors.