High purity specimens of URu₂Si₂ produced by a molten metal flux technique

Abstract

We report a molten metal flux technique to produce high purity specimens of URuSi. Magnetic susceptibility (), heat capacity () and electrical resistivity () measurements show that the bulk properties of these crystals are similar to those that are produced by the Czochralski technique followed by solid-state electro-transport. In particular, we find residual resistivity ratios RRR / as large as 220.

Keywords:

• crystal growth
• superconducting materials
• strongly correlated electrons

Acknowledgements

Work at Los Alamos National Laboratory was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, and PECASE funding from the US DOE, OBES, Division of Material Science and Engineering.