Surface superconductivity and order parameter suppression in UPt$_3$

TL;DR

This paper explains recent surface superconductivity measurements in UPt3 by proposing anisotropic suppression of the pair wavefunction at the surface, and suggests further experiments to differentiate models of its superconducting state.

Contribution

It introduces an anisotropic suppression model for surface superconductivity in UPt3 and proposes further experiments to distinguish between competing theoretical models.

Findings

Surface superconductivity can be explained by anisotropic pair wavefunction suppression.

Further measurements can differentiate phenomenological models of UPt3.

The suppression is interface-dependent and anisotropic.

Abstract

We show that a recent measurement of surface superconductivity in UPt$_3$ (Keller {\it et. al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 73}, 2364 (1994)) can be understood if the superconducting pair wavefunction is suppressed anisotropically at a vacuum to superconductor interface. Further measurements of surface superconductivity can distinguish between the various phenomenological models of superconducting UPt$_3$.