Probing the superconducting ground state of the rare-earth ternary boride superconductors $R$RuB$_2$ ($R$ = Lu,Y) using muon-spin rotation and relaxation

TL;DR

This study investigates the superconducting properties of $R$RuB$_2$ ($R$=Lu,Y) using muon-spin techniques, revealing fully gapped, conventional s-wave pairing with some indications of unconventional behavior.

Contribution

It provides detailed muon-spin rotation and relaxation measurements, characterizing the superconducting gap, symmetry, and electronic properties of these rare-earth borides for the first time.

Findings

Superconductivity preserves time-reversal symmetry.

Both compounds exhibit fully gapped s-wave superconductivity.

Effective masses and carrier densities are quantified.

Abstract

The superconductivity in the rare-earth transition metal ternary borides $R$RuB$_2$ (where $R$ = Lu and Y) has been investigated using muon-spin rotation and relaxation. Measurements made in zero-field suggest that time-reversal symmetry is preserved upon entering the superconducting state in both materials; a small difference in depolarization is observed above and below the superconducting transition in both compounds, however this has been attributed to quasistatic magnetic fluctuations. Transverse-field measurements of the flux-line lattice indicate that the superconductivity in both materials is fully gapped, with a conventional s-wave pairing symmetry and BCS-like magnitudes for the zero-temperature gap energies. The electronic properties of the charge carriers in the superconducting state have been calculated, with effective masses $m^*/ m_\mathrm{e} = $ $9.8\pm0.1$ and $15.0\pm0.1$ in the Lu and Y compounds, respectively, with superconducting carrier densities $n_\mathrm{s} = $ ($2.73\pm0.04$) $\times 10^{28}$ m$^{-3}$ and ($2.17\pm0.02$) $\times 10^{28}$ m$^{-3}$. The materials have been classified according to the Uemura scheme for superconductivity, with values for $T_\mathrm{c}/T_\mathrm{F}$ of $1/(414\pm6)$ and $1/(304\pm3)$, implying that the superconductivity may not be entirely conventional in nature.