Evidence for the Sr2RuO4 intercalations in the Sr3Ru2O7 region of the Sr3Ru 2O7 - Sr2RuO4 eutectic system

Abstract

Although Sr3Ru2O7 has not been reported to exhibit superconductivity so far, ac susceptibility measurements revealed multiple superconducting transitions occurring in the Sr3Ru 2O7 region cut from Sr3Ru2O 7 - Sr2RuO4 eutectic crystals. Based on various experimental results, some of us proposed the scenario in which Sr 2RuO4 thin slabs with a few layers of the RuO2 plane are embedded in the Sr3Ru2O7 region as stacking faults and multiple superconducting transitions arise from the distribution of the slab thickness. To examine this scenario, we measured the resistivity along the ab plane (ρab) using a Sr 3Ru2O7-region sample cut from the eutectic crystal, as well as along the c axis (ρc) using the same crystal. As a result, we detected resistance drops associated with superconductivity only in ρab, but not in ρc. These results support the Sr2RuO4 thin-slab scenario. In addition, we measured the resistivity of a single crystal of pure Sr3Ru2O 7with very high quality and found that pure Sr3Ru 2O7 does not exhibit superconductivity down to 15 mK. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.