Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis.
Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland; National Institute of Standards and Technology.
J Vis Exp. 2021 Jul 8(173). doi: 10.3791/62563.
Single crystal specimens of the actinide compound uranium ditelluride, UTe2, are of great importance to the study and characterization of its dramatic unconventional superconductivity, believed to entail spin-triplet electron pairing. A variety in the superconducting properties of UTe2 reported in the literature indicates that discrepancies between synthesis methods yield crystals with different superconducting properties, including the absence of superconductivity entirely. This protocol describes a process to synthesize crystals that exhibit superconductivity via chemical vapor transport, which has consistently exhibited a superconducting critical temperature of 1.6 K and a double transition indicative of a multi-component order parameter. This is compared to a second protocol that is used to synthesize crystals via the molten metal flux growth technique, which produces samples that are not bulk superconductors. Differences in the crystal properties are revealed through a comparison of structural, chemical, and electronic property measurements, showing that the most dramatic disparity occurs in the low-temperature electrical resistance of the samples.
铀碲化物 UTe2 的单晶体标本对于研究和描述其显著的非常规超导性非常重要，据信这种超导性涉及到自旋三重态电子配对。文献中报道的 UTe2 的超导性质的多样性表明，合成方法的差异导致具有不同超导性质的晶体，包括完全没有超导性。本方案描述了一种通过化学气相输运合成具有超导性的晶体的方法，该方法一直表现出超导临界温度为 1.6K 和双转变，表明存在多分量序参量。这与另一种通过熔融金属通量生长技术合成晶体的方案进行了比较，该方案产生的样品不是大块超导体。通过比较结构、化学和电子性质测量来揭示晶体性质的差异，表明样品在低温电阻方面存在最显著的差异。
