Temperature Dependence of the Magnetic Penetration Depth and Nodal Gap Structure of UPt $ _3 $ from Small Angle Neutron Scattering

摘要: Spanning a broad range of physical systems, complex symmetry breaking is widely recognized as a hallmark of competing interactions. This is exemplified in superfluid He which has multiple thermodynamic phases with spin and orbital quantum numbers and , that emerge on cooling from a nearly ferromagnetic Fermi liquid. The heavy fermion compound UPt exhibits similar behavior clearly manifest in its multiple superconducting phases. However, consensus as to its order parameter symmetry has remained elusive. Our small angle neutron scattering measurements indicate a linear temperature dependence of the London penetration depth characteristic of nodal structure of the order parameter. Our theoretical analysis is consistent with assignment of its symmetry odd parity state for which one of the three thermodynamic phases in non-zero magnetic field is chiral.