Evidence for fully-gapped superconductivity in heavy-fermion CeCu$_2$Si$_2$

ORAL

Abstract

The discovery of superconductivity in heavy-fermion CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ in 1979 has opened a new playground for unconventional superconductivity in strongly-correlated systems. However, even in this archetypal heavy-fermion superconductor, the symmetry and the structure of the superconducting gap, which are intimately related to the paring mechanism, are still elusive. Here, to investigate the low-energy quasiparticle excitations in the superconducting state of CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ ($T_c=0.6$~K), we performed specific heat, thermal conductivity, and penetration depth measurements down to 60~mK. We found that specific heat and penetration depth exhibit exponential $T$-dependence at low $T$. Moreover, thermal conductivity has no residual $T$-linear term and shows little $H$-dependence. These behavior are in marked contrast to nodal superconductors. From the data taken with different experimental configurations, the detailed superconducting gap structure will be discussed.

Authors

  • Y. Kasahara

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • D. Terazawa

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • T. Yamashita

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • T. Onishi

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • Y. Tokiwa

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • T. Terashima

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • Y. Matsuda

    • Kyoto Univ.
  • T. Takenaka

    • Univ. of Tokyo
  • Y. Mizukami

    • Univ. of Tokyo
  • T. Shibauchi

    • Univ. of Tokyo
  • J. Wilcox

    • Univ. of Bristol
  • C. Putzke

    • Univ. of Bristol
  • A. Carrington

    • Univ. of Bristol
  • S. Kittaka

    • ISSP, Univ. of Tokyo
  • T. Sakakibara

    • ISSP, Univ. of Tokyo
  • H. S. Jeevan

    • Max Planck Institute
  • S. Seiro

    • Max Planck Institute
  • C. Geibel

    • Max Planck Institute
  • Y. Haga

    • JAEA