Unconventional superconductivity in the Kondo-lattice system CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ -- a personal perspective

Abstract

In the first part of this article, I briefly review early research activities concerning strongly correlated electron systems, beginning with the discovery of superconductivity and the first observation of a resistance minimum in nominally pure Cu-metal, which was explained many years later by Kondo. I will also address the antagonistic behavior of conventional (BCS) superconductivity and magnetism. The main focus of this paper is on the discovery of non-BCS-type superconductivity in the Kondo-lattice system CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, a prototypical heavy-fermion metal. Here, the superconducting state is created by a periodic lattice of 100% of magnetic Ce^3+ ions. Meanwhile, more than fifty lanthanide-, actinide-, and transition-metal-based intermetallic compounds are known to belong to the class of heavy-fermion superconductors. Finally, I will give my personal view of the current knowledge of this kind of unconventional superconductivity.