Interplay between unconventional superconductivity and heavy-fermion quantum criticality: CeCu2Si2 versus YbRh2Si2

ABSTRACTIn this paper the low-temperature properties of two isostructural canonical heavy-fermion compounds are contrasted with regards to the interplay between antiferromagnetic (AF) quantum criticality and superconductivity. For CeCu2Si2, fully-gapped d-wave superconductivity forms in the vicinity of an itinerant three-dimensional heavy-fermion spin-density-wave (SDW) quantum critical point (QCP). Inelastic neutron scattering results highlight that both quantum critical SDW fluctuations as well as Mott-type fluctuations of local magnetic moments contribute to the formation of Cooper pairs in CeCu2Si2. In YbRh2Si2, superconductivity appears to be suppressed at T ⪆ 10 mK by AF order (TN = 70 mK). Ultra-low temperature measurements reveal a hybrid order between nuclear and 4f-electronic spins, which is dominated by the Yb-derived nuclear spins, to develop at TA slightly above 2 mK. The hybrid order turns out to strongly compete with the primary 4f-electronic order and to push the material towards its QCP. ...