Characterisation of high energy electron irradiation damage in UPt3 samples

TL;DR

This study investigates how high energy electron irradiation affects the superconducting properties of UPt3 crystals, revealing inhomogeneous transition temperatures and challenging the universal heat transport limit.

Contribution

It provides new insights into irradiation-induced inhomogeneity and conditions for testing heat transport theories in UPt3 superconductors.

Findings

Critical temperature depends on sample thickness.

Irradiation causes inhomogeneous superconducting transition temperatures.

Conditions for testing the universal heat transport limit are clarified.

Abstract

We present transport and specific heat measurements on high quality single crystals of UPt$_3$ before and after irradiation by high energy electrons. We observe a strong dependence of the critical temperature with the sample thickness. The dramatic effects of the irradiation on the specific heat in the superconducting state can then be simply explained in terms of an inhomogeneous distribution of superconducting transition temperatures. The question of the failure of the "universal limit" in the heat transport of UPt3 is reexamined, and the conditions for a clean experimental test are established.