arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Y. Maeno.
We report first inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the normal state of Sr_2RuO_4 that reveal the existence of incommensurate magnetic spin fluctuations located at ${\bf q}_0=(\pm 0.6π/a, \pm 0.6π/a, 0)$. This finding confirms recent band structure calculations that have predicted incommensurate magnetic responses related to dynamical nesting properties of its Fermi surface.
Sr2RuO4 is the only known layered perovskite oxide superconductor without copper; there is strong evidence for an unconventional ("p-wave") pairing mechanism, and it has recently been shown to possess a cylindrical, "quasi-two-dimensional" Fermi surface. Using Sr2RuO4 as a test case for the detection of quantum oscillations with piezoresistive microcantilevers, the piezolever torque magnetometry technique was successfully implemented on a dilution refrigerator. It was possible to reproduce the quantum-oscillatory magnetization data on all three Fermi surface sheets, in a crystal of microgram mass. Moreover, an absolute estimate of the amplitude of the oscillation is provided. We also investigated the phenomenon of torque interaction which distorts the magnetization signal and introduces harmonics and sidebands to the dHvA spectrum. As the torque interaction effect grows in strength, overcriticality is shown to lead to discrete magnetization jumps and to a near-asymptotically damped "sproing" effect.
We report muon spin relaxation measurements on the superconductor Sr2RuO4 that reveal the spontaneous appearance of an internal magnetic field below the transition temperature: the appearance of such a field indicates that the superconducting state in this material is characterized by the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. These results, combined with other symmetry considerations, suggest that superconductivity in Sr2RuO4 is of p-wave (odd-parity) type, analogous to superfluid 3He.