Y3Pt4Ge13: A superconductor with a noncentrosymmetric crystal structure

Abstract

The intermetallic compound Y${}_{3}$Pt${}_{4}$Ge${}_{13}$ has been synthesized by high-pressure high-temperature technique. It crystalizes with its own noncentrosymmetric type of crystal structure in the monoclinic space group $Cc$ and is superconducting below ${T}_{c}=4.5$ K. Thermodynamic properties as well as transport measurements were performed down to 0.4 K. The upper critical field is ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{0}{H}_{c2}=3.8$ T, the lower one only ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{0}{H}_{c1}=5$ mT. All observations are consistent with an $s$-wave symmetry single-energy gap for the superconducting phase.