Surface Superconducting State of Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeIrIn5 Probed by CeIrIn5-Ag Junctions

The CeIrIn₅-Ag junctions of about 2×10^–9 cm^–2 area have been made using microfabrication techniques, and the surface superconducting state of CeIrIn₅, which has two characteristic temperatures T₀ and T_c, has been investigated, where T₀ and T_c are the transition temperature to zero-resistivity state and the bulk, thermodynamic transition temperature, respectively. The temperature, below which superconducting anomalies are observed, varies from junction to junction, and yet it is always well above T_c=0.4 K. This result, together with no indication of transition at T_c, suggests that at least the surface of CeIrIn₅ is in the superconducting state above T_c. The data on the critical current I_c in superconducting anomalies point to the possibility to define a local transition temperature for each junction.