Probing the vortex state of PrRu4Sb12 through muon spin rotation and relaxation -: art. no. 184503

We have investigated the magnetic penetration depth lambda and the superconducting coherence length xi in the vortex lattice of the filled skutterudite compound PrRu4Sb12 (T-c similar to 0.97 K) using transverse-field muon-spin rotation measurements. Zero-field and longitudinal-field studies were also carried out to investigate the time-reversal symmetry of the superconducting state. We found lambda=3650(20) angstrom and xi=345(5) angstrom at 0.05 K and using these values of lambda and xi, together with the Sommerfeld constant we have calculated an effective mass of the quasiparticles m(*)approximate to 10m(e) and superfluid carrier density n(s)approximate to 4x10(27) carriers/m(3). The temperature dependence of the vortex state muon-spin relaxation rate sigma(s)(T) is consistent with the phenomenological two-fluid model. Further, the zero-field and longitudinal field measurements do not reveal any signature of a spontaneous internal magnetic field below the superconducting transition temperature, indicating the preservation of time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state of PrRu4Sb12, unlike the broken time-reversal symmetry of the superconducting state of the heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12.