Electronic states and superconducting properties of non-centrosymmetric rare earth compounds

Abstract

The property of Fermi surface splitting in the non-centrosymmetric tetragonal compounds RPt 3Si (R: La, Ce) and RT X 3 (T: Co, Rh, Ir; X: Si, Ge) are studied by de Haas-van Alphen experiments and compared with energy band calculations. Moreover superconducting properties are investigated in these compounds. In particular, in CeIrSi 3 the unusual behavior of the upper critical field H c2 at pressures around 2.6 GPa is analyzed in detail. At 2.6 GPa, a huge value of H c2(0) ≃450 kOe is found for magnetic fields along the [0 0 1] direction of the non-centrosymmetric tetragonal crystal structure, in contrast to the smaller H c2(0) ≃ 95 kOe for H ∥ [1 1 0]. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.