Nature456, 366-368 (20 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07431; Received 16 June 2008; Accepted 10 September 2008
Isotropic quantum scattering and unconventional superconductivity
T. Park1,2, V. A. Sidorov1,3, F. Ronning1, J.-X. Zhu1, Y. Tokiwa1, H. Lee1, E. D. Bauer1, R. Movshovich1, J. L. Sarrao1 & J. D. Thompson1
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, South Korea
Vereshchagin Institute of High Pressure Physics, RAS, 142190 Troitsk, Russia
Correspondence to: T. Park1,2J. D. Thompson1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to T.P. (Email: tuson@lanl.gov) or J.D.T. (Email: jdt@lanl.gov).
Superconductivity without phonons has been proposed for strongly correlated electron materials that are tuned close to a zero-temperature magnetic instability of itinerant charge carriers1. Near this boundary, quantum fluctuations of magnetic degrees of freedom assume the role of phonons in conventional superconductors, creating an attractive interaction that 'glues' electrons into superconducting pairs. Here we show that superconductivity can arise from a very different spectrum of fluctuations associated with a local (or Kondo-breakdown) quantum critical point2, 3, 4, 5 that is revealed in isotropic scattering of charge carriers and a sublinear, temperature-dependent electrical resistivity. At this critical point, accessed by applying pressure to the strongly correlated, local-moment antiferromagnet CeRhIn5, magnetic and charge fluctuations coexist and produce electronic scattering that is maximal at the optimal pressure for superconductivity. This previously unanticipated source of pairing glue6 opens possibilities for understanding and discovering new unconventional forms of superconductivity.
