Superconductivity enhanced by abundant low-energy phonons in (Sr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$)$_3$Rh$_4$Sn$_{13}$

Abstract

The effects of structural quantum criticality on the strong-coupling superconductivity of (Sr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$)$_3$Rh$_4$Sn$_{13}$ have been investigated via electrical resistivity and specific heat measurements. We demonstrate that the lattice specific heat at low temperatures considerably increases toward the structural quantum critical point (SQCP), $x_{\rm c}\approx0.9$. The superconducting gap increases with $x$ in the exact same fashion as the low-temperature lattice specific heat, clearly indicating that the abundant low-energy phonons cause strong-coupling superconductivity. Despite the electron-phonon interaction, which is much more enhanced than the electron correlation, the low-temperature electrical resistivity near the SQCP varies as $\propto T^2$. This finding suggests that structural quantum fluctuation affects the power law arising from the electron-phonon scattering.