Type-I superconductivity in Al 6 Re

摘要: While the pure elements tend to exhibit type-I rather than type-II superconductivity, nearly all compound superconductors are type-II, with only a few known exceptions. We report single-crystal growth and physical characterization of rhenium aluminide ${\mathrm{Al}}_{6}\mathrm{Re}$, which we conclude is superconductor based on magnetization, ac susceptibility, specific-heat measurements. This detection despite strong similarity ${\mathrm{Al}}_{6}\mathrm{Re}$ family W Mo aluminides that do not superconduct, suggests these an ideal testbed for identifying relative importance valence electron count inversion symmetry in determining whether material will superconduct.