The Impact of Nuclear Magnetism on Superconductivity in a Metal with Nuclear Electric Quadrupole Splitting: Indium

We report the first investigation of the impact of nuclear magnetism on superconductivity in the tetragonal metal indium. We have measured the superconducting critical field B_c(T) and in its vicinity the nuclear magnetic heat capacity at ultralow temperatures, 170 KT200 mK. We compare the measured quantities with calculations which consider the nuclear magnetic Zeeman and the dominating nuclear electric quadrupole interaction in indium. The heat capacity data support the occurence of a positive sign of the electrical field gradient at nuclear sites and in consequence the existence of a nuclear low spin ground state. Surprisingly, at lowest investigated temperatures, 170 KT1 mK, the reduction of the critical field B_c(T) clearly exceeds the size of the calculated magnetization ₀ M(B_c, T) which is limited by the nuclear low spin ground state. In all other materials the interplay of nuclear magnetism and superconductivity has been studied so far (Al, AuAl ₂ , AuIn ₂ , Rh, and Sn), the bare nuclear magnetization appeared as an upper limit of the reduction of the critical field.