1205.6836 (E. Svanidze et al.)

Type-I superconductivity in ScGa3 and LuGa3 single crystals    [PDF]

E. Svanidze, E. Morosan

We present evidence of type-I superconductivity in single crystals of ScGa3 and LuGa3, from magnetization, specific heat, and resistivity measurements: low critical temperatures Tc = 2.1-2.2 K; field-induced secondto first-order phase transition in the specific heat, critical fields less than 240 Oe; and low Ginzburg-Landau coefficients {\kappa} approx 0.23 and 0.30 for ScGa3 and LuGa3, respectively, are all traits of a type-I superconducting ground state. These observations render ScGa3 and LuGa3 two of only several type-I superconducting compounds, with most other superconductors being type II (compounds and alloys) or type I (elemental metals and metaloids).

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.6836