Superconductivity in single crystalline YPd2Ge2

Superconductivity in single crystalline LuPd2Si2 probed by heat capacity measurements

“…The analysis of the collected x-ray powder diffraction pattern (see figure 1(b)) confirmed the tetragonal ThCr 2 Si 2 -type crystal structure of the studied compound and proved the single-phase character of the specimens studied. While the refined lattice parameters a=4.0838(3)Åand c=9.8729(2)Åare consistent with the previously reported ones [8,13,14], the derived atomic coordinate z Si =0.3802(5) differs slightly from that obtained for the polycrystalline sample (0.3866 (11)) [8]. Moreover, the crystals were found to be homogeneous, with the experimentally determined composition of Lu/Pd/Si=19.9/38.9/ 41.2 at.% being very close to the expected stoichiometry.…”

“…HPc H⊥c Fourth, the convex shape is usually more visible in H c2 (T) curves derived from resistivity measurements. For instance, our recently reported results for YPd 2 Ge 2 [11] and YPd 2 Si 2 [12] have shown an upward curvature for H c2 (T) dependencies obtained from the electrical resistivity ρ(T, H) data and no such a feature in the respective curves derived from specific heat C P (T, H) and magnetization M mol (H) (even though both compounds have not been evidenced as multi-band superconductors so far). Moreover, LuRu 4 As 12 , showing very small excessive specific heat in comparison to the prediction of BCS theory for single gap supercondutors, was recently established as a two-gap superconductor based on local magnetization studies [35].…”

“…Motivated by those discoveries, we have recently performed a systematic re-investigation of non-magnetic 1:2:2 silicides and germanides, which have resulted in several reports on properties of the whole series of compounds [4][5][6][7][8], as well as more detailed studies of selected superconductors both on polycrystalline samples [9,10] and single crystals [11,12], confirming or discovering the presence of superconductivity in several compounds.…”

Crystal Growth and Physical Properties of the YPd2Si2 Superconductor

“…The findings reported for YFe 2 Ge 2 motivated us to perform systematic reinvestigation of other d-electron 1:2:2 silicides and germanides. − Among the compounds being studied in this project is YPd 2 Si 2 , which has been briefly mentioned in the literature as a superconductor . Also in our recent report on crystal structure and basic physical properties of Y TE 2 Si 2 systems ( TE = transition element), we have only briefly described polycrystalline samples of YPd 2 Si 2 .…”