Nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of superconducting and normal state Nb3Sn

Gan Zhai; William P. Halperin; Arneil P. Reyes; Sam Posen; Zuhawn Sung; Chiara Tarantini; Michael D. Brown; David C. Larbalestier

doi:10.1088/1361-6668/ad5fbf

Nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of superconducting and normal state Nb₃Sn

Gan Zhai^*, William P. Halperin^*, Arneil P. Reyes, Sam Posen, Zuhawn Sung, Chiara Tarantini, Michael D. Brown, David C. Larbalestier

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The superconductor Nb₃Sn has important applications for construction of very high-field superconducting magnets. In this work we investigate its microscopic electronic structure with ⁹³Nb nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The high-quality Nb₃Sn powder sample was studied in both 3.2 T and 7 T magnetic fields in the temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. From measurement of the spectrum and its theoretical analysis, we find evidence for anisotropy despite its cubic crystal structure. Magnetic alignment of the powder grains in the superconducting state was also observed. The Knight shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate, T ₁^{- 1} , were measured and the latter compared with BCS theory for the energy gap Δ ( 0 ) = 2.7 ± 0.3 k_B T_c at 3.2 T and Δ ( 0 ) = 2.33 ± 0.07 k B T c at 7 T, indicating suppression of the order parameter by magnetic field.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	085020
Journal	Superconductor Science and Technology
Volume	37
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6668/ad5fbf
State	Published - Aug 2024

Funding

We thank Jim Sauls, Ruslan Prozorov and Manish Mandal for helpful discussions and Ryan Baumbach for susceptibility measurement. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS) under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359. A portion of this work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-2128556 and the State of Florida. The research work at FSU was primarily funded by the grant number DE-SC0012083 from the US Department of Energy, Office of High Energy Physics.

Keywords

NbSn
nuclear magnetic resonance
spin lattice relaxation
superconducting energy gap
superconductivity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ceramics and Composites
Condensed Matter Physics
Metals and Alloys
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Materials Chemistry

Access to Document

10.1088/1361-6668/ad5fbf

Cite this

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title = "Nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of superconducting and normal state Nb3Sn",

abstract = "The superconductor Nb3Sn has important applications for construction of very high-field superconducting magnets. In this work we investigate its microscopic electronic structure with 93Nb nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The high-quality Nb3Sn powder sample was studied in both 3.2 T and 7 T magnetic fields in the temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. From measurement of the spectrum and its theoretical analysis, we find evidence for anisotropy despite its cubic crystal structure. Magnetic alignment of the powder grains in the superconducting state was also observed. The Knight shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate, T 1 - 1 , were measured and the latter compared with BCS theory for the energy gap Δ ( 0 ) = 2.7 ± 0.3 kB Tc at 3.2 T and Δ ( 0 ) = 2.33 ± 0.07 k B T c at 7 T, indicating suppression of the order parameter by magnetic field.",

keywords = "NbSn, nuclear magnetic resonance, spin lattice relaxation, superconducting energy gap, superconductivity",

author = "Gan Zhai and Halperin, {William P.} and Reyes, {Arneil P.} and Sam Posen and Zuhawn Sung and Chiara Tarantini and Brown, {Michael D.} and Larbalestier, {David C.}",

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AU - Zhai, Gan

AU - Halperin, William P.

AU - Reyes, Arneil P.

AU - Posen, Sam

AU - Sung, Zuhawn

AU - Tarantini, Chiara

AU - Brown, Michael D.

AU - Larbalestier, David C.

PY - 2024/8

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N2 - The superconductor Nb3Sn has important applications for construction of very high-field superconducting magnets. In this work we investigate its microscopic electronic structure with 93Nb nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The high-quality Nb3Sn powder sample was studied in both 3.2 T and 7 T magnetic fields in the temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. From measurement of the spectrum and its theoretical analysis, we find evidence for anisotropy despite its cubic crystal structure. Magnetic alignment of the powder grains in the superconducting state was also observed. The Knight shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate, T 1 - 1 , were measured and the latter compared with BCS theory for the energy gap Δ ( 0 ) = 2.7 ± 0.3 kB Tc at 3.2 T and Δ ( 0 ) = 2.33 ± 0.07 k B T c at 7 T, indicating suppression of the order parameter by magnetic field.

AB - The superconductor Nb3Sn has important applications for construction of very high-field superconducting magnets. In this work we investigate its microscopic electronic structure with 93Nb nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The high-quality Nb3Sn powder sample was studied in both 3.2 T and 7 T magnetic fields in the temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. From measurement of the spectrum and its theoretical analysis, we find evidence for anisotropy despite its cubic crystal structure. Magnetic alignment of the powder grains in the superconducting state was also observed. The Knight shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate, T 1 - 1 , were measured and the latter compared with BCS theory for the energy gap Δ ( 0 ) = 2.7 ± 0.3 kB Tc at 3.2 T and Δ ( 0 ) = 2.33 ± 0.07 k B T c at 7 T, indicating suppression of the order parameter by magnetic field.

KW - NbSn

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