Observation of Spin Susceptibility Enhancement in the Possible FFLO State in CeCoIn$_5$

Abstract

We report $^{115}$In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ in the vicinity of the superconducting critical field $H_{c2}$ for a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the $\hat c$-axis. A possible inhomogeneous superconducting state, Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO), is stabilized in this part of the phase diagram. In 11 T applied magnetic field, we observe clear signatures of the two phase transitions: the higher temperature one to the homogeneous superconducting state and the lower temperature phase transition to a FFLO state. It is found that the spin susceptibility in the putative FFLO state is significantly enhanced as compared to the value in a homogeneous superconducting state. Implications of this finding for the nature of the low temperature phase are discussed.