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Strong superconducting pairing strength and pseudogap features in a putative multiphase heavy-fermion superconductor CeRh2As2 studied by soft point contact spectroscopy

Qingxin Dong1,2,*, Tong Shi1,3,*, Pengtao Yang1,2,*, Xinyang Liu1,4, Xiaofan Shi1,2, Lei Wang1,2, Junsen Xiang1,2, Hanming Ma1,2, Zhaoming Tian3 et al.

Jianping Sun1,2, Yoshiya Uwatoko5, Genfu Chen1,2,6, Xinbo Wang1,2, Jie Shen1,2, Rui Wu1, Xin Lu7, Peijie Sun1,2, Grzegorz Chajewski8, Dariusz Kaczorowski8,†, Bosen Wang1,2,‡, and Jinguang Cheng1,2,§

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: bswang@iphy.ac.cn
  • ‡Contact author: d.kaczorowski@intibs.pl
  • §Contact author: jgcheng@iphy.ac.cn

Phys. Rev. B 111, L180501 – Published 2 May, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.L180501

Abstract

CeRh2As2 is a newly discovered candidate of multiphase heavy-fermion superconductor (Tc≈0.3 K) with intriguing physical properties. Here, we employ soft point-contact spectroscopy to investigate its energy gap behaviors in both the normal and superconducting states. The differential conductance below Tc reveals an estimated superconducting energy gap of 2ΔSC≈0.24 meV and thus an extremely strong superconducting pairing strength 2ΔSC/kBTc≈8.8, which is comparable to those of cuprates and iron-based high-Tc superconductors as well as infinite-layer nickelates. Above Tc, a well-defined pseudogap feature is manifested as a V-shaped dip in the differential conductance spanning an energy scale of 2Δg≈0.95−3.0 meV. The pseudogap feature persists to the highest characteristic temperature of Tg≈8−9 K and is gradually suppressed by magnetic field of Bg≈9.0±0.5 T regardless of its direction relative to the crystallographic axes. The observation of pseudogap features prior to the superconducting phase transition enriches the phase diagram of CeRh2As2 and provides a platform to study the interplay of unconventional superconductivity and pseudogap phenomena.

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