Abstract
We find that in the ultraclean heavy-fermion superconductor URu2Si2 (Tc0=1.45K) a distinct flux line lattice melting transition with outstanding characters occurs well below the mean-field upper critical fields. We show that a very small number of carriers with heavy mass in this system results in exceptionally large thermal fluctuations even at sub-Kelvin temperatures, which are witnessed by a sizable region of the flux line liquid phase. The uniqueness is further highlighted by an enhancement of the quasiparticle mean free path below the melting transition, implying a possible formation of a quasiparticle Bloch state in the periodic flux line lattice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 037004 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 100 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 24 Jan 2008 |