Multiband superconductivity in Mo8Ga41 driven by a site-selective mechanism

Sirohi, Anshu and Saha, Surabhi and Neha, Prakriti and Das, Shekhar and Patnaik, Satyabrata and Das, Tanmoy and Sheet, Goutam (2019) Multiband superconductivity in Mo8Ga41 driven by a site-selective mechanism. In: PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 99 (5).

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Abstract

The family of the endohedral gallide cluster compounds recently emerged as a new family of superconductors which is expected to host systems displaying unconventional physics. Mo8Ga41 is an important member of this family which shows relatively large T-c similar to 10 K and has shown indications of strong electron-phonon coupling and multiband superconductivity. Here, through direct measurement of superconducting energy gap by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we demonstrate the existence of two distinct superconducting gaps of magnitude 0.85 and 1.6 meV, respectively, in Mo8Ga41. Both gaps are seen to be conventional in nature as they evolve systematically with temperature as per the predictions of BCS theory. Our band structure calculations reveal that only two specific Mo sites in a unit cell contribute to superconductivity where only d(xz)/d(yz) and d(x2)(-y2) orbitals have strong contributions. Our analysis indicates that the site-elective contribution governs the two-gap nature of superconductivity in Mo8Ga41.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL REVIEW B
Publisher:	AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2019 04:54
Last Modified:	25 Feb 2019 04:54
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/61816

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