Penetration depth study in the heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12

The penetration depth λ in the filled-skutterudite heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12 has been measured using transverse-field muon spin rotation (TF-μSR). It is found to be temperature-independent at low temperatures, consistent with a nonzero gap for quasiparticle excitations. In contrast, radiofrequency (RF) measurements yield a stronger temperature dependence of λ(T), indicative of point nodes in the gap. A ∼10% discrepancy is found at low temperatures. This may be due to mechanisms that modify the vortex-state field distribution, or to the surface scattering which breaks pairs in an odd-parity superconductor. Alternatively, it may be a matter of field orientation of nodal gap structure in the μSR measurements.