Superconducting Gap Structure of Filled Skutterudite LaOs₄As₁₂ Compound through <i>μ</i>SR Investigations

Abstract

Filled skutterudite compounds have gained attention recently as an innovative platforms for studying intriguing low-temperature superconducting properties. Regarding the symmetry of the superconducting gap, contradicting findings from several experiments have been made for LaRu4As12 and its isoelectronic counterpart, LaOs4As12. In this vein, we report comprehensive bulk and microscopic results on LaOs4As12 utilizing specific heat analysis and muon-spin rotation/relaxation (μSR) measurements. Bulk superconductivity with TC = 3.2 K was confirmed by heat capacity. The superconducting ground state of the filled-skutterudite LaOs4As12 compound is found to have two key characteristics: superfluid density exhibits saturation type behavior at low temperature, which points to a fully gapped superconductivity with gap value of 2Δ/kBTC = 3.26; additionally, the superconducting state does not show any sign of spontaneous magnetic field, supporting the preservation of time-reversal symmetry. These results open the door for the development of La-based skutterudites as special probes for examining the interplay of single- and multiband superconductivity in classical electron–phonon systems.

Keywords

• filled skutterudite superconductor
• superconducting gap structure
• muon spin rotation and relaxation