Neutron diffraction from the vortex lattice in the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt₃

We have used neutron diffraction to observe the vortex lattice of UPt3. This is the first such measurement in a heavy-fermion system, a superconductor below 1 K, or in a system with such a long magnetic penetration depth (6000 +/- 75 angstrom). It also provides the first value for the pair coherence length, 111 +/- 2 angstrom, to be obtained directly within the pairing state of UPt3.

The lattice is oblique hexagonal with conventional quantization. Its anisotropy can be explained by considering a combination of gap and Fermi-surface anisotropies. The lattice does not appear to change near the transitions between the superconducting phases identified by other techniques.