Superconductivity in Cerium- and Plutonium-Based ‘115’ Materials

Over the past five or so years, a family of cerium- and plutonium-based superconductors that crystallize in the HoCoGa₅ structure has attracted considerable attention. These materials display heavy fermion behavior consistent with proximity to magnetic order and low-temperature superconducting properties suggestive of d-wave pairing. The availability of high-quality single crystals and the ability to tune physical properties through a variety of chemical substitutions and other means have enabled advances in our understanding of these fascinating materials. In particular, the evolution of electronic structure and characteristic spin fluctuations reveals rich phase diagrams and places in context fundamental questions for the broader field of strongly correlated superconductors.