Unconventional superconductivity in heavy fermion UTe$_2$
Abstract
We grew single crystals of the recently discovered heavy fermion superconductor UTe$_2$, and measured the resistivity, specific heat and magnetoresistance. Superconductivity (SC) was clearly detected at $T_{sc}$ = 1.65 K as sharp drop of the resistivity in a high quality sample of RRR = 35. The specific heat shows a large jump at $T_{sc}$ indicating strong coupling. The large Sommerfeld coefficient, γ = 117 mJ K$^{−2}$ mol$^{−1}$ extrapolated in the normal state and the temperature dependence of C/T below $T_{sc}$ are the signature of unconventional SC. The discrepancy in the entropy balance at Tsc between SC and normal states points out that hidden features must occur. Surprisingly, a large residual value of the Sommerfeld coefficient seems quite robust (γ0/γ ∼ 0.5). The large upper critical field $H_{c2}$ along the three principal axes favors spin-triplet SC. For $H$ ∥ $b$-axis, our experiments do not reproduce the huge upturn of $H_{c2}$ reported previously. This discrepancy may reflect that $H_{c2}$ is very sensitive to the sample quality. A new perspective in UTe$_2$ is the proximity of a Kondo semiconducting phase predicted by the LDA band structure calculations.