Gap Structure of the Spin-Triplet Superconductor Sr2RuO4 Determined from the Field-Orientation Dependence of the Specific Heat

We report the field-orientation dependent specific heat of the spin-triplet superconductor Sr₂RuO₄ under the magnetic field aligned parallel to the RuO₂ planes with high accuracy. Below about 0.3K, striking fourfold oscillations of the density of states reflecting the superconducting gap structure have been resolved for the first time. We also obtained strong evidence of multiband superconductivity and concluded that the superconducting gap in the active band, responsible for the superconducting instability, is modulated with a minimum along the [100] direction.