Superconducting properties of Pr-based Filled skutterudite PrRu${}_4$As${}_{12}$

We report on systematic study of superconducting characteristics and Pr crystalline-electric-field (CEF) levels of filled-skutterudite \pra ($T_{\rm c}$=2.33K)\mathrm{.}Thetemperaturedependencesoftheuppercriticalfield$H_{\rm c2}$andtheGinzburg-Landau(Maki)parameter$\kappa_2$ suggest an s-wave clean-limit superconductivity. The electronic specific heat coefficient $\gamma \sim 95$mJ\mathrm{/}K$^2$mol,being$\sim 1.5$ times larger than that for \lra, indicates $4f$-originating quasiparticle mass enhancement. Magnetic susceptibility $\chi (T)$ indicates that the CEF ground state is a ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_1$ singlet and a ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_4^{(1)}$ triplet first excited state lies at $\Delta_{\rm CEF}\sim 30$ K above. Systematic comparison among \pos, \prs, \pra and La-based reference compounds suggests that inelastic exchange- and aspherical-charge-scatterings of conduction electrons from CEF-split $4f$ levels play an essential role for the quasiparticle mass enhancement and the value of $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ in the Pr-based filled skutterudites.