Campbell penetration depth in low carrier density superconductor YPtBi

Abstract

Magnetic penetration depth, λm, was measured as a function of temperature and magnetic field in single crystals of low carrier density superconductor YPtBi by using a tunnel-diode oscillator technique. Measurements in zero DC magnetic field yield London penetration depth, λL (T ), but in the applied field the signal includes the Campbell penetration depth, λC (T ), which is the characteristic length of the attenuation of small excitation field, Hac, into the Abrikosov vortex lattice due to its elasticity. Whereas the magnetic field dependent λC exhibit λC ∼ B p with p = 1/2 in most of the conventional and unconventional superconductors, we found that p ≈ 0.23 1/2 in YPtBi due to rapid suppression of the pinning strength. From the measured λC (T, H), the critical current density is jc ≈ 40 A/cm 2 at 75 mK. This is orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional superconductors of comparable Tc. Since the pinning centers (lattice defects) and vortex structure are not expected to be much different in YPtBi, this observation is direct evidence of the low density of the Cooper pairs because jc ∝ ns.