Textured superconductivity in the presence of a coexisting order: Ce115s and other heavy-fermion compounds

Superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems frequently emerges in proximity to another broken symmetry. In heavy-electron superconductors, the nearby ordered state most commonly is magnetism, and the so-called Ce115 heavy-electron compounds have been particularly instructive for revealing new relationships between magnetism and superconductivity. From measurements of the resistive and bulk transitions to superconductivity in these materials, we find that the resistive transition appears at a temperature considerably higher than the bulk transition when superconductivity and magnetic order coexist, but this temperature difference disappears in the absence of long-range magnetic order. Further, in the pressure–temperature region of coexistence in CeRhIn5, a new anisotropy in the resistive transition develops even though the tetragonal crystal structure apparently remains unchanged, implying a form of textured superconductivity. We suggest that this texture may be a generic response to coexisting order in these and other heavy-fermion superconductors.

► Coexisting order creates texture in the superconductivity of Ce115 compounds.
► This texture breaks rotational symmetry in CeRhIn5.
► Similar signatures for texture are present in other heavy-fermion materials.
► The texture may be a consequence of nematic or smectic electronic states.