Crystallographic imperfections and exotic superconductivity of UBe$_{13}$

Abstract

The symmetry of the superconducting gap is related to the symmetry of the crystal structure. In unconventional superconductors, big changes of the critical temperature, critical field or even the gap structure can happen even for small perturbations of the lattice. In this letter, we use microstructuring to study aluminium-free crystals of UBe$_{13}$ which are expected to be closer to "perfect" material than previously studied aluminium-grown single crystals. We compare the effect of minuscule imperfections on the value of the critical temperature and critical field, which, in the case of UBe$_{13}$, has drastic effects, supporting its unconventional nature. We conjecture that this likely arises from the oxidation state of uranium, which is sensitive to its crystal environment. Our findings suggests that uranium-based materials provide not only an excellent reservoir of new unconventional phenomena, but also a way to identify the gap symmetry of unconventional superconductors.