Observation of Half-Height Magnetization Steps in Sr₂RuO

Spin-triplet superfluids can support exotic objects, such as half-quantum vortices characterized by the nontrivial winding of the spin structure. We present cantilever magnetometry measurements performed on mesoscopic samples of Sr₂RuO₄, a spin-triplet superconductor. With micrometer-sized annular-s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 331; no. 6014; pp. 186 - 188
Main Authors Jang, J, Ferguson, D.G, Vakaryuk, V, Budakian, R, Chung, S.B, Goldbart, P.M, Maeno, Y
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Association for the Advancement of Science 14.01.2011
Subjects
Cantilevers
Heat index
Integers
Magnetic dipole moment
Magnetic fields
Magnetic flux
Magnetic measurement
Magnetization
Physics
Superconductors
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Summary:Spin-triplet superfluids can support exotic objects, such as half-quantum vortices characterized by the nontrivial winding of the spin structure. We present cantilever magnetometry measurements performed on mesoscopic samples of Sr₂RuO₄, a spin-triplet superconductor. With micrometer-sized annular-shaped samples, we observed transitions between integer fluxoid states as well as a regime characterized by "half-integer transitions"--steps in the magnetization with half the height of the ones we observed between integer fluxoid states. These half-height steps are consistent with the existence of half-quantum vortices in superconducting Sr₂RuO₄.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203