arXiv subjects

Adrian Hillier

Publications and source records attributed to Adrian Hillier.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Nonunitary triplet superconductivity in the Z2 topological metal SrPd2As2

In Z2 topological metals, nontrivial band topology and strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) impose symmetry constraints that can stabilize unconventional superconducting states, even when thermodynamic probes indicate an isotropic gap. Here, we investigate the superconducting ground state of such a material, SrPd2As2, using muon spin rotation and relaxation (muSR), first-principles calculations, and Ginzburg-Landau analysis. Transverse-field muSR indicates a fully gapped superconducting state below Tc = 0.94 K, while zero-field muSR detects spontaneous internal magnetic fields below Tc, establishing time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking. Electronic structure calculations identify SrPd2As2 as a Z2 topological metal with surface states crossing the Fermi level. Standard anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg calculations predict a nodal gap and overestimate Tc, indicating that a purely phonon-mediated pairing mechanism is insufficient. We resolve this apparent contradiction by showing that the interplay of SOC, tetragonal symmetry, and an open Fermi surface topology stabilizes a nonunitary triplet superconducting state whose symmetry-imposed nodes lie in momentum-space regions devoid of electronic states. This yields a fully gapped thermodynamic response while naturally breaking TRS. Our results establish SrPd2As2 as a clean platform for bulk nonunitary triplet pairing and a promising candidate for intrinsic topological superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Muon Nuclear Data Development Project

Negative muon-induced nuclear reactions play a critical role in a wide range of scientific and technological applications; however, comprehensive nuclear data for these processes remain unavailable. To address this gap, we have launched the Muon Nuclear Data (muND) Development Project in Japan, aiming to construct a dedicated data library for muon capture reactions. The library consists of four sub-libraries: muonic X-ray energies and intensities (XR), lifetimes of muonic atoms and nuclear capture rates (LT), energy spectra of emitted particles (ES), and production branching ratios of residual nuclei (BR). This project integrates experimental measurements, theoretical modeling, and machine learning techniques to compile and evaluate the data. We report the current status and recent progress of each sub-library.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2026

MuDirac 1.3.0: A Sustainable Software Tool for Calculating Ground State Nuclear Properties Using Muonic X-Ray Measurements

The nuclear charge radius is one of the most fundamental quantities of the atomic nucleus. It can be deduced from a combination of experimental measurements of muonicX-raytransitionenergieswithmodellingofthoseX-raytransitionenergies. In thisworkwepresentMuDirac (1.3.0), whichisanopen, publiclyavailable, sustainable and computationally efficient software tool that will be at put the disposal of the negative muon community. With MuDirac (1.3.0), the community will be able to accurately and efficiently estimate nuclear properties, such as the nuclear charge radius, by assuming a 2-parameter Fermi distribution of the nuclear charge.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2025

Test of LGAD as Potential Next-Generation {\mu}SR Spectrometer Detectors

Muon Spin Rotation/Relaxation/Resonance ($\mu$SR) is a versatile and powerful non-destructive technology for investigating the magnetic properties of materials at the microscopic level. The $\mu$SR technique typically utilizes fully spin polarized beams of positive muons generated at particle accelerator facilities and measures the evolution of the muon spin polarization inside a sample to extract information about the local magnetic environment in materials. With the development of accelerator technologies, intensities of muon beams are being continuously improved, which will cause a pile-up problem to the $\mu$SR spectrometer. The first muon source in China, named MELODY, is currently under construction and will be a pulsed source of muons operated at a repetition frequency of only 1 Hz due to limitations of the accelerator system at CSNS. Consequently, there is a strong motivation to operate MELODY at significantly higher muon intensities. This necessitates an upgrade of the detector system inside the spectrometer, which should be smaller and faster to accommodate the increased intensity per pulse of muons. The Low Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD), characterized by a typical pulse width of 2 ns and a segmentation size in the centimeters range, has the potential to significantly improve the counting rates of $\mu$SR spectrometers that utilize a high intensity pulsed muon source. Thus, it is expected that the LGAD detector is a promising candidate to enhance the performance of $\mu$SR spectrometers at the new MELODY muon source.To validate this, tests on the LGAD were conducted at the ISIS pulsed muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. This paper will describe the setup of the candidate LGAD devices and the subsequent analysis of the experiment data.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Magnetic phase diagram of Cu$_{4-x}$Zn$_x$(OH)$_6$FBr studied by neutron-diffraction and $μ$SR techniques

We have systematically studied the magnetic properties of Cu$_{4-x}$Zn$_x$(OH)$_6$FBr by the neutron diffraction and muon spin rotation and relaxation ($μ$SR) techniques. Neutron-diffraction measurements suggest that the long-range magnetic order and the orthorhombic nuclear structure in the $x$ = 0 sample can persist up to $x$ = 0.23 and 0.43, respectively. The temperature dependence of the zero-field (ZF) $μ$SR spectra provide two characteristic temperatures, $T_{A0}$ and $T_λ$. Comparison between $T_{A0}$ and $T_M$ from previously reported magnetic-susceptibility measurements suggest that the former comes from the short-range interlayer-spin clusters that persist up to $x$ = 0.82. On the other hand, the doping level where $T_λ$ becomes zero is about 0.66, which is much higher than threshold of the long-range order, i.e., $\sim$ 0.4. Our results suggest that the change in the nuclear structure may alter the spin dynamics of the kagome layers and a gapped quantum-spin-liquid state may exist above $x$ = 0.66 with the perfect kagome planes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Recent progress on superconductors with time-reversal symmetry breaking

Superconductivity and magnetism are antagonistic states of matter. The presence of spontaneous magnetic fields inside the superconducting state is, therefore, an intriguing phenomenon prompting extensive experimental and theoretical research. In this review, we discuss recent experimental discoveries of unconventional superconductors which spontaneously break time-reversal symmetry and theoretical efforts in understanding their properties. We discuss the main experimental probes and give an extensive account of theoretical approaches to understand the order parameter symmetries and the corresponding pairing mechanisms including the importance of multiple bands.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Multigap superconductivity in ThAsFeN investigated using muSR measurements

We have investigated the superconducting ground state of the newly discovered superconductor ThFeAsN with a tetragonal layered crystal structure using resistivity, magnetization, heat capacity and transverse-field (TF) muon-spin rotation ($μ$SR) measurements. Our resistivity and magnetization measurements reveal an onset of bulk superconductivity with $T_{\bf c}\sim$ 30 K. The heat capacity results show a very small anomaly, $Δ$C$_{ele}$$\sim$0.214 (J/mol-K) at $T_{\bf c}\sim$ 30 K and exhibits exponential behavior below $T_{\bf c}$, which fits better to two superconducting gaps rather than a single gap. Further a nonlinear magnetic field dependence of the electronic specific heat coefficient $γ$(H) has been found in the low temperature limit, which indicates that the smaller energy gap is nodal. Our analysis of the TF-$μ$SR results shows that the temperature dependence of the superfluid density is better described by a two-gap model either isotropic $s$+$s$-wave or $s$+$d$-wave than a single gap isotropic $s$-wave model for the superconducting gap, consistent with other Fe-based superconductors. The combine $γ$(H) and TF-$μ$SR results confirm $s$+$d$-wave model for the gap structure of ThFeAsN. The observation of two gaps in ThFeAsN suggests multiband nature of the superconductivity possibly arising from the d-bands of Fe ions. Furthermore, from our TF-$μ$SR study we have estimated the magnetic penetration depth, in the polycrystalline sample, of $λ_{\mathrm{L}}$$(0)$ = 375 nm, superconducting carrier density $n_s = 4.6 \times 10^{27}~ $m$^{-3}$, and carrier's effective-mass $m^*$ = 2.205\textit{m}$_{e}$. We will compare the results of our present study with those reported for the Fe-pnictide family of superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Unconventional superconductivity in Y$_5$Rh$_6$Sn$_{18}$ probed by muon spin relaxation

Conventional superconductors are robust diamagnets that expels magnetic fields through the Meissner effect. It would therefore be unexpected if a superconducting ground state would support spontaneous magnetics fields. Such broken time-reversal symmetry states have been suggested for the high$-$temperature superconductors, but their identification remains experimentally controversial. We present magnetization, heat capacity, zero field and transverse field muon spin relaxation experiments on the recently discovered caged type superconductor \yrhsn\ ($T_{\bf c}$ = 3.0 K). The electronic heat capacity of \yrhsn\ shows a $T^3$ dependence below $T_{\bf c}$ indicating an anisotropic superconducting gap with a point node. This result is in sharp contrast to that observed in the isostructural Lu$_5$Rh$_6$Sn$_{18}$ which is a strong coupling $s-$wave superconductor. The temperature dependence of the deduced superfluid density \yrhsn\ is consistent with a BCS $s-$wave gap function, while the zero-field muon spin relaxation measurements strongly evidences unconventional superconductivity through a spontaneous appearance of an internal magnetic field below the superconducting transition temperature, signifying that the superconducting state is categorized by the broken time-reversal symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con↗