Normal Fermi Surface in the Nodal Superconductor CeCoIn₅ Revealed via Thermal Conductivity

The thermal conductivity of heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn₅ was measured with a magnetic field rotating in the tetragonal a-b plane, with the heat current in the anti-nodal direction, J || [100]. We observe a sharp resonance in thermal conductivity for the magnetic field at an angle θ ~ 12∘, measured from the heat current direction [100]. This resonance corresponds to the reported resonance at an angle θ' ~ 33∘ from the direction of the heat current applied along the nodal direction, J || [110]. Both resonances, therefore, occur when the magnetic field is applied in the same crystallographic orientation in the two experiments, regardless of the direction of the heat current, proving conclusively that these resonances are due to the structure of the Fermi surface of CeCoIn₅. We argue that the uncondensed Landau quasiparticles, emerging with field, are responsible for the observed resonance. We support our experimental results with density-functional-theory model calculations of the density of states in a rotating magnetic field. Our calculations, using a model Fermi surface of CeCoIn₅, reveal several sharp peaks as a function of the field direction. Our study demonstrates that the thermal-conductivity measurement in rotating magnetic field can probe the normal parts of the Fermi surface deep inside the superconducting state.