The second magnetization peak and the peak effect phenomenon in the superconductor Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃

Abstract

We report on the observation of the anomalous second magnetization peak (SMP) and the peak effect (PE) in juxtaposition to each other in the isothermal magnetization hysteresis loops at T≤4 K in a weakly pinned single crystal of an isotropic superconductor Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃ (T_c≈8.2 K). The position of the SMP does not display any temperature variation, whereas the PE appearing at the edge of the irreversibility line progressively moves towards lower fields as temperature increases. At T≈5 K, the PE nearly swamps the SMP, and above this temperature only the PE can be observed. If the SMP and the PE can be construed as representing changes in the spatial order of the flux line lattice (FLL), the apparent merger of loci of the peak fields of the SMP and the PE in the neighborhood of H≈15 kOe at a reduced temperature t [=T/T_c(0)] of about 0.6 could imply the existence of a multi-critical point.