Nature of the two superconducting phases of CeRh_2As_2 · revision history

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Title

Nature of the two superconducting phases of CeRh2As2

Plain

In CeRh2As2 a magnetic field along one crystal axis switches the superconductor from one state to another, possibly from even-parity to odd-parity pairing, made possible because each cerium layer lacks a center of inversion although the whole crystal has one.

Precise

CeRh2As2 ($T_{c} \sim 0.26\ \mathrm{K}$) shows for $H \mid\mid c$ a transition at H* ~ 40 kG between a low-field phase SC1 and a high-field phase SC2 extending to H_c2 ~ 140 kG (Khim et al., Science 2021). Determine whether SC1 and SC2 are the even- and odd-parity states of locally noncentrosymmetric Ce layers, or whether H* is controlled by the quadrupole-density-wave or antiferromagnetic order found near or inside the superconducting phase. An answer identifies the order parameters of both phases by site-resolved NMR Knight shift, field-angle dependence of H*, and the relation of H* to the normal-state order.

Settled by

Site-resolved Knight shift in SC1 and SC2 plus a measurement showing whether $H*$ moves with the normal-state ordering field when that order is suppressed (by La substitution or pressure).

Kind

well-posed

Answer type

identification

References

(empty)

Literature status

contested

Status note

Field-angle data (Landaeta et al., PRX 2022) support an even-to-odd parity transition, while a possible quadrupole density wave (Hafner et al., PRX 2022) and antiferromagnetism inside the superconducting state offer alternative explanations.

Posed since

2021