0000000001303175
AUTHOR
R. J. Cava
A Ni-based Superconductor: the Heusler Compound ZrNi$_2$Ga
This work reports on the novel Heusler superconductor ZrNi2Ga. Compared to other nickel-based superconductors with Heusler structure, ZrNi2Ga exhibits a relatively high superconducting transition temperature of Tc=2.9 K and an upper critical field of 1.5 T. Electronic structure calculations show that this relatively high transition temperature is caused by a van Hove singularity, which leads to an enhanced density of states at the Fermi energy. The van Hove singularity originates from a higher order valence instability at the L-point in the electronic structure. The enhanced density of states at the Fermi level was confirmed by specific heat and susceptibility measurements. Although many He…
CSD 1784742: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
Related Article: Leslie Schoop, Lukas Müchler, Jennifer Schmitt, Vadim Ksenofontov, Sergey Medvedev, Jürgen Nuss, Frederick Casper, Martin Jansen, R. J. Cava, Claudia Felser|2012|Phys.Rev.B|86|174522|doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.86.174522