Eur. Phys. J. B 73, 347-351 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2010-00012-y

Double-stage continuous-discontinuous superconducting phase transition in the Pauli paramagnetic limit of a 3D superconductor: the URu₂Si₂ case

Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel

Corresponding author: chrvlzh@tx.technion.ac.il

Received: 6 May 2009
Revised: 18 November 2009
Published online: 15 January 2010

Abstract

The sharp suppression of the de-Haas van-Alphen oscillations observed in the mixed superconducting (SC) state of the heavy fermion compound URu₂Si₂ is shown to confirm a theoretical prediction of a narrow double-stage SC phase transition, smeared by fluctuations, in a 3D paramagnetically-limited superconductor. The predicted scenario of a second order transition to a nonuniform (FFLO) state followed by a first order transition to a uniform SC state, obtained by using a non-perturbative approach, is also found to be consistent with recent thermal conductivity measurements performed on this material.