Unconventional Superconductivity in Mineral Miassite Rh17S15

Scientific Achievement

The mineral miassite, Rh17S15, is shown to be an unconventional superconductor with line nodes in the

miassite
The linear increase of the London penetration depth is a fingerprint of nodal lines shown by black circles on the schematic map of the proposed order parameter.

superconducting gap.

Significance and Impact

Finding unconventional superconductivity in a naturally occurring mineral indicates that this behavior is not limited to synthetic complex lab-only compounds. This result points towards a generic mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity.

Research Details
  • Linear temperature variation of the London penetration depth is an unambiguous evidence of line nodes.
  • Artificial disorder induced by electron irradiation suppressed transition temperature at the rate that also requires line nodes.

 

H. Kim, M. A. Tanatar, M. Kończykowski, R. Grasset, U. S. Kaluarachchi, S. Teknowijoyo, K. Cho, A. Sapkota, J. M. Wilde, M. J. Krogstad, S. L. Bud’ko, P. M. R. Brydon, P. C. Canfield, and R. Prozorov Communications Materials 5, 17 (2024) doi:10.1038/s43246-024-00456-w

We acknowledge SIRIUS electron irradiation user facility (France)