Probing the superconducting pairing of the La4Be33Pt16 alloy via muon-spin spectroscopy

We report a study of the superconducting pairing of the noncentrosymmetric La4Be33Pt16alloy using muon-spin rotation and relaxation (µSR) technique. BelowTc=2.4 K, La4Be33Pt16exhibits bulk superconductivity (SC), here characterized by heat-capacity and magnetic-susceptibility measurements. The temperature dependence of the superfluid densityρsc(T), extracted from the transverse-fieldµSR measurements, reveals a nodeless SC in La4Be33Pt16. The best fit ofρsc(T)using ans-wave model yields a magnetic penetration depthλ0=542 nm and a superconducting gapΔ0=0.37 meV at zero Kelvin. The single-gapped superconducting state is further evidenced by the temperature-dependent electronic specific heatCe(T)/Tand the linear field-dependent electronic specific-heat coefficientγH(H). The zero-fieldµSR spectra collected in the normal- and superconducting states of La4Be33Pt16are almost identical, confirming the absence of an additional field-related relaxation and, thus, of spontaneous magnetic fields belowTc. The nodeless SC combined with a preserved time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state proves that the spin-singlet pairing is dominant in La4Be33Pt16. This material represents yet another example of a complex system showing only a conventional behavior, in spite of a noncentrosymmetric structure and a sizeable spin-orbit coupling.