Characterization and Strain Measurements of the Half-Heusler Superconductors YPtBi and LaPtBi*

Materials with a half-Heusler structure have been investigated for decades, primarily due to their interesting magnetic properties. This class of materials has recently seen a surge of interest due to their non-trivial band structures and the possibility of exotic high-spin superconductivity.  YPtBi [1] and LaPtBi [2] are known to exhibit superconducting transitions below 1 K, and in the case of YPtBi, there is evidence for line nodes in the superconducting gap. Nonlinear magnetic response measurements are particularly suited for probing emergent superconductivity [3], and the application uniaxial strain has been shown to enhance the transition temperature of some materials [4]. We have grown single crystals of both compounds out of bismuth flux under vacuum encapsulation and confirmed the single-phase nature of our samples via X-ray diffraction. Here we report initial charge transport and nonlinear magnetic response measurements of electronic properties, as well as the effect of strain on the superconducting transition.

References:

[1] N. P. Butch et al. Phys. Rev. B 84, 220504(R) (2011)

[2] G. Goll et al. Physica B 403, 1065 (2008)

[3] D. Pelc et al. Nat. Comm. 10, 2729 (2019)

[4] S. Hameed et al. Nat. Mat. 21, 54 (2022)