LIIIabsorption edge studies of mixed valent cerium intermetallics and related systems

Evidence for Coexistence of Bulk Superconductivity and Itinerant Antiferromagnetism in the Heavy Fermion System CeCo(In(1-x)Cdx)5

In the generic phase diagram of heavy fermion systems, tuning an external parameter such as hydrostatic or chemical pressure modifies the superconducting transition temperature. The superconducting phase forms a dome in the temperature—tuning parameter phase diagram, which is associated with a maximum of the superconducting pairing interaction. Proximity to antiferromagnetism suggests a relation between the disappearance of antiferromagnetic order and superconductivity. We combine muon spin rotation, neutron scattering, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques to gain access to the magnetic and electronic structure of CeCo(In_1−xCd_x)₅ at different time scales. Different magnetic structures are obtained that indicate a magnetic order of itinerant character, coexisting with bulk superconductivity. The suppression of the antiferromagnetic order appears to be driven by a modification of the bandwidth/carrier concentration, implying that the electronic structure and consequently the interplay of superconductivity and magnetism is strongly affected by hydrostatic and chemical pressure.