Specific-Heat Evidence for Two-Gap Superconductivity in the Ternary-Iron SilicideLu2Fe3Si5

Abstract

We report low-temperature specific-heat studies on the single-crystalline ternary-iron silicide superconductor Lu(2)Fe(3)Si(5) with T(c)=6.1 K down to approximately T(c)/20. We confirm a reduced normalized jump in specific heat at T(c), and find that the specific heat divided by temperature C/T shows a sudden drop at approximately T(c)/5 and goes to zero with further decreasing temperature. These results indicate the presence of two distinct superconducting gaps in Lu(2)Fe(3)Si(5), similar to the typical two-gap superconductor MgB(2). We also report Hall coefficients, band structure calculations, and the anisotropy of upper critical fields for Lu(2)Fe(3)Si(5), which support the anisotropic multiband nature and reinforce the existence of two superconducting gaps in Lu(2)Fe(3)Si(5).