Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) is a rare phenomenon in which the electronic resistivity of a material can be decreased by orders of magnitude upon application of a magnetic field. Such an effect could be the basis of the next generation of magnetic memory devices. Here we report CMR in the antiferromagnetic oxypnictide NdMnAsO1-xFx as a result of competition between an antiferromagnetic insulating phase with strong electron correlations and a paramagnetic semiconductor upon application of a magnetic field. The discovery of CMR in antiferromagnetic Mn2+ oxypnictide materials could open up an …
We report on the synthesis and structural/ microstructural studies of iron based fluorine doped LaOFeAs superconductors. We have successfully synthesized fluorine doped superconducting LaO1-xFxFeAs materials by choosing lower temperature (1150^0C) and longer synthesis duration (60 hours) as compared to the standard values of these employed in the pioneering first contribution [Kamihara et al 2008 J Am Chem Soc 130 3296]. Decrease of lattice parameters as determined by x-ray diffraction confirm the substitution of fluorine. The superconducting transition temperature is 27.5 K which is observed …
Fluoride-doped iron-based oxypnictides containing rare-earth gadolinium (GdFeAsO0.8F0.2) and co-doping with yttrium (Gd0.8Y0.2FeAsO0.8F0.2) have been prepared via conventional solid state reaction at ambient pressure. The non-yttrium substituted oxypnictide show superconducting transition as high as 43.9 K from temperature dependent resistance measurements with the Meissner effect observed at a lower temperature of 40.8 K from temperature dependent magnetization measurements. By replacing a small amount of gadolinium with yttrium Tc was observed to be lowered by 10 K which might be caused by a…
We report the results from resistivity and magnetic measurements on polycrystalline Ce oxypnictide (CeFeAsO1-xFx) samples where x spans from 0.13 to 0.25. We find that the orbital limiting field is as high as 150 T and it systematically decreases with increasing doping. The Maki parameter is greater than one across the phase diagram and the large Maki parameter suggests that orbital and Pauli limiting effects contribute to the upper critical field. The broadening of the superconducting transition in the resistivity data was interpreted using the thermally activated flux flow (TAFF) model where…
The recently discovered quaternary arsenide oxide superconductor La[O1-xFx]FeAs with the superconducting critical transition temperature (Tc) of 26 K [1], has been quickly expanded to another high-Tc superconducting system beyond copper oxides by the replacement of La with other rare earth elements, such as Sm, Ce, and Pr etc. [2-4], and the Pr[O1-xFx]FeAs has become to be the first non-cuprate superconductor that holding a Tc above 50 K. All these arsenide (including phosphide) superconductors formed in a same tetragonal layered structure with the space group P4/nmm which has an alternant sta…
The synthesis, structural and physical properties of iron lanthanide oxypnictide superconductors, L4Fe2As2Te1-xO4 (L = Pr, Sm, Gd), with transition temperature at ~ 25 K are reported. Single crystals have been grown at high pressure using cubic anvil technique. The crystal structure consists of layers of L2O2 tetrahedra separated by alternating layers of chains of Te and of Fe2As2 tetrahedra: -L2O2-Te-L2O2-Fe2As2-L2O2-Te-L2O2- (space group: I4/mmm, a ~ 4.0, c ~ 29.6 Å). Substitution of oxygen by fluorine increases the critical temperature, e.g. in Gd4Fe2As2Te1-xOyF4-y up to 45 K. Magnetic torq…
We have performed a temperature-dependent angle-integrated laser photoemission study of iron oxypnictide superconductors LaFeAsO:F and LaFePO:F exhibiting critical transition temperatures (Tc's) of 26 K and 5 K, respectively. We find that high-Tc LaFeAsO:F exhibits a temperature-dependent pseudogap-like feature extending over ~0.1 eV about the Fermi level at 250 K, whereas such a feature is absent in low-Tc LaFePO:F. We also find ~20-meV pseudogap-like features and signatures of superconducting gaps both in LaFeAsO:F and LaFePO:F. We discuss the possible origins of the unusual pseudogap-like f…
We report superconducting properties of PrO1-xFxBiS2 compounds, synthesized by the vacuum encapsulation technique. The synthesized PrO1-xFxBiS2 (x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9) samples are crystallized in a tetragonal P4/nmm space group. Both transport and DC magnetic susceptibility measurements showed bulk superconductivity below 4 K. The maximum Tc is obtained for x = 0.7 sample. Under applied magnetic field both Tc onset and Tc (R =0) decrease to lower temperatures. We estimated highest upper critical field [Hc2(0)] for PrO0.3F0.7BiS2 sample to be above 4 T (Tesla). The thermally activated fl…
The spin density wave and its temperature dependence in oxypnictide are studied in a three-band model. The spin susceptibilities with various interactions are calculated in the random phase approximation(PPA). It is found that the spin susceptibility peaks around the M point show a spin density wave(SDW) with momentum (0, $π$) and a clear stripe-like spin configuration. The intra-band Coulomb repulsion enhances remarkably the SDW but the Hund's coupling weakens it. It is shown that a new resonance appears at higher temperatures at the $Γ$ point indicating the formation of a paramagnetic phase.…
Photoemission spectroscopy with low-energy tunable photons on oxygen-deficient iron-based oxypnictide superconductors NdFeAsO0.85 (Tc=52K) reveals a distinct photon-energy dependence of the electronic structure near the Fermi level (EF). A clear shift of the leading-edge can be observed in the superconducting states with 9.5 eV photons, while a clear Fermi cutoff with little leading-edge shift can be observed with 6.0 eV photons. The results are indicative of the superconducting gap opening not on the hole-like ones around Gamma (0,0) point but on the electron-like sheets around M(pi,pi) point…
We report measurements of resistivity, magnetoresistivity, Hall effect, Seebeck coefficient, infrared reflectivity of undoped SmFeAsO and lightly doped SmFeAs(O0.93F0.07) oxypnictides. All the properties measured on SmFeAsO are characterized by clear signatures of the magnetic instability. A self-consistent picture emerges in which below the magnetic transition carrier condensation occurs due to the opening of spin density wave (SDW) gap. This is accompanied by the mobility increase of not gapped carriers due to the suppression of electron-electron scattering. SmFeAs(O0.93F0.07) exhibits an in…
The fluorine-doped rare-earth iron oxyarsenides, REFeAsO1-xFx (RE =rare earth) have recently emerged as a new family of high-temperature superconductors with transition temperatures (Tc) as high as 55 K (refs 1-4). Early work has provided compelling evidence that the undoped parent materials exhibit spin-density-wave (SDW) antiferromagnetic order and undergo a structural phase transition from tetragonal to orthorhombic crystal symmetry upon cooling.5 Both the magnetic and structural instabilities are suppressed upon doping with fluoride ions before the appearance of superconductivity.6,7 Here …
There has been a puzzle between experiments and theoretical predictions on the charge ordering of layered titanium-oxypnictides superconductors. Unconventional mechanisms to explain this discrepancy have been argued so far, even affecting the understanding of superconductivity on the compound. We provide a new theoretical prediction, by which the discrepancy itself is resolved without any complicated unconventional explanation. Phonon dispersions and changes of nesting vectors in Fermi surfaces are clarified to lead to the variety of superlattice structures even for the common crystal structur…
Investigating the anisotropy of superconductors permits an access to fundamental properties. Having succeeded in the fabrication of epitaxial superconducting LaFeAs(O,F) thin films we performed an extensive study of electrical transport properties. In face of multiband superconductivity we can demonstrate that a Blatter scaling of the angular dependent critical current densities can be adopted, although being originally developed for single band superconductors. In contrast to single band superconductors the mass anisotropy of LaFeAs(O,F) is temperature dependent. A very steep increase of the …
A family of titanium oxypnictide materials BaTi2Pn2O (Pn = pnictogen) becomes superconducting when a charge and/or spin density wave is suppressed. With hole doping, isovalent doping and pressure, a whole range of tuning parameters is available. We investigate how charge doping controls the superconducting transition temperature Tc. To this end, we use experimental crystal structure data to determine the electronic structure and Fermi surface evolution along the doping path. We show that a naive approach to calculating Tc via the density of states at the Fermi level and the McMillan formula sy…
Topological superconductors have long been predicted to host Majorana zero modes which obey non-Abelian statistics and have potential for realizing non-decoherence topological quantum computation. However, material realization of topological superconductors is still a challenge in condensed matter physics. Utilizing high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we predict and then unveil the coexistence of topological Dirac semimetal and topological insulator states in the vicinity of Fermi energy ($E_F$) in the titanium-based oxypnictide supercon…
We have systematically investigated the grain boundary (GB) angle dependence of transport properties for NdFeAs(O,F) fabricated on [001]-tilt symmetric MgO bicrystal substrates. In our previous study, NdFeAs(O,F) bicrystal films showed a weak-link behaviour even at a GB angle of 6°. However, this was caused by an extrinsic effect originating from the damage to both NdFeAs(O,F) and MgO substrate by excess F-diffusion along the grain boundary. To investigate the intrinsic nature of grain boundaries, we minimized the damage to NdFeAs(O,F) and MgO by reducing the deposition temperature of NdOF ove…
$^{19}$F NMR measurements in SmFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$, for $0.15\leq x\leq 0.2$, are presented. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ increases upon cooling with a trend analogous to the one already observed in CeCu$_{5.2}$Au$_{0.8}$, a quasi two-dimensional heavy-fermion intermetallic compound with an antiferromagnetic ground-state. In particular, the behaviour of the relaxation rate either in SmFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ or in CeCu$_{5.2}$Au$_{0.8}$ can be described in the framework of the self-consistent renormalization theory for weakly itinerant electron systems. Remarkably, no effect of t…
Raman spectra of polycrystalline NdFeAsO1-xFx (x=0.0, 0.1, 0.2) compound have been systematically investigated as functions of temperature and fluorine concentration. Scanning electron microscopic and Raman microscopic characterization demonstrates that the polycrystalline samples mainly contain two phases, i.e. superconductor NdFeAsO1-xFx compound and a MnP-type FeAs phase, with dissimilar characteristic Raman bands. It was found that fluorine doping leads to structure disorder in the insulator Nd-O layers and high temperature coefficient of Fe-As vibrational mode.
The newly discovered superconductor La(O,F)FeAs (Tc = 26 K) was investigated using the neutron scattering technique. No spin-density-wave (SDW) order was observed in the normal state nor in the superconducting state, both with and without an applied magnetic field of 9 T, consistent with the proposal that SDW and superconductivity are competing in the laminar materials. While our inelastic measurements offer no constraints on the spin dynamic response from d-wave pairing, an upper limit for the magnetic resonance peak predicted from an extended s-wave pairing mechanism is provided. Our measure…
Zero field and longitudinal field muon spin relaxation measurements have been performed in optimally doped and overdoped superconductors LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ in order to investigate the magnetic fluctuation over a wide range of temperature and longitudinal field. We have observed no sign of magnetic fluctuation against temperature in the muons' time window (10$^{-5}\sim$ 10$^{-9}$s). Considering the current results and other results, i.e., spin fluctuation observed by neutron scattering, pseudogap-like behaviors by NMR and photoemission spectroscopy, it is suggested that not only the spin fluc…
High-resolution and high-flux neutron as well as X-ray powder-diffraction experiments were performed on the oxypnictide series LaO(1-x)FxFeAs with 0<x<0.15 in order to study the crystal and magnetic structure. The magnetic symmetry of the undoped compound corresponds to those reported for ReOFeAs (with Re a rare earth) and for AFe2As2 (A=Ba, Sr) materials. We find an ordered magnetic moment of 0.63(1)muB at 2 K in LaOFeAs, which is significantly larger than the values previously reported for this compound. A sizable ordered magnetic moment is observed up to a F-doping of 4.5% whereas there is …
We present the first infrared and optical study in the normal state of ab-plane oriented single crystals of the iron-oxypnictide superconductor LaFePO. We find that this material is a low carrier density metal with a moderate level of correlations and exhibits signatures of electron-boson coupling. The data is consistent with the presence of coherent quasiparticles in LaFePO.
LaFe1-yCoyAsO1-xFx (x=0.11) with various y values were prepared and their electrical resistivities, superconducting diamagnetisms and Hall coefficients have been measured. 75As- and 135La-NMR studies have also been carried out In spite of the successful Co-doping, we have not found any meaningful correlation of Tc with y, which indicates that the Tc-suppression by Co-doping is considered not to be so significant as expected for superconductors with nodes. Even for superconductors without nodes, it may not be easy to expect this small effect on Tc, if there are two different (disconnected) Ferm…
we were able to develop a novel method to synthesize Fe-based oxypnictide superconductors. By using LnAs and FeO as the starting materials and a ball-milling process prior to solid-state sintering, Tc as high as 50.7 K was obtained with the sample of Sm 0.85Nd0.15FeAsO0.85F0.15 prepared by sintering at temperatures as low as 1173 K for times as short as 20 min.
Single crystals of the oxypnictide superconductors SmFeAsO_(0.8)F_(0.2) and NdFeAsO_(0.8)F_(0.2) with T_c in the range of 44 K to 48 K were investigated by torque magnetometry. An analysis of the data in terms of a recently proposed model for the anisotropic magnetization in the superconducting state, treating the penetration depth anisotropy differently than the upper critical field anisotropy, provides evidence that in the oxypnictide superconductors two distinct anisotropies are present. As a result the penetration depth anisotropy differs significantly in magnitude and in temperature depen…
The magnetic and transport behaviors of cerium substituted iron oxy-arsenide superconductor with x = 0.1 to 0.4 fluoride (F) doping have been investigated in this report. Temperature dependent susceptibility and resistivity measurements showed the 0.1 F-doped sample (CeFeAsO0.9F0.1) has a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of around 30 K. With increasing doping beyond x = 0.2 Tc saturates to around 40 K. Temperature dependent susceptibility measured in different magnetic fields for the under-doped sample showed Meissner effect in low field and the diamagnetism is still visible up to 1…
The sign-reversing fully gapped superconducting state, which is expected to be realized in oxypnictide superconductors, can be prominently affected by nonmagnetic impurities due to the interband scattering of Cooper pairs. We study this problem based on the isotropic two-band BCS model: In oxypnictide superconductors, the interband impurity scattering $I'$ is not equal to the intraband one $I$. In the Born scattering regime, the reduction in Tc is sizable and the impurity-induced density of states (DOS) is prominent if $I\sim I'$, due to the interband scattering. Although impurity-induced DOS …
A series of polycrystalline SmFeAs1-xOx bulks was prepared to systematically investigate the influence of sample density on flux pinning properties. Different sample densities were achieved by controlling the pelletizing pressure. The superconducting volume fraction, the critical current densities Jcm and the flux pinning force densities Fp were estimated from the magnetization measurements. Experimental results manifest that: (1) the superconducting volume fraction decreases with the decreasing of sample density. (2) The Jcm values have the similar trend except for the sample with very high d…
Pairing symmetry in oxypnictides, a new family of multiband high-Tc superconductors, is partially imposed by the positions of multiple Fermi pockets, which itself can give rise to new order parameters, such as s+,- states or the state of dx^2-y^2 symmetry. Other pairing states may appear on small pockets for long range interactions, but they are expected to be sensitive to defects. We identify the competing antiferromagnetic order with the triplet exciton transition in the semi- metallic background and discuss whether its coexistence with superconductivity explains the doping dependence of Tc.
The Fe-based Oxypnicide superconductors have generated a huge amount of interest; they are a high temperature superconductor, with a Tc of 55K, but do not have the two dimensional copper oxygen layer that was thought essential for superconductivity at these high temperatures. Initial studies have hinted towards the possibility of a spin density wave (SDW) in these compounds and how they could play an important role in the superconductivity. SDW's occur at low temperatures in low-dimensional materials with strong electron correlations or in metals with a high density of states at the Fermi surf…
The electronic structure of BaTi2As2O, a parent compound of the newly discovered titanium-based oxypnictide superconductors, is studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The electronic structure shows multi-orbital nature and possible three-dimensional character. An anomalous temperature-dependent spectral weight redistribution and broad lineshape indicate the incoherent nature of the spectral function. At the density-wave-like transition temperature around 200 K, a partial gap opens at the Fermi patches. These findings suggest that BaTi2As2O is likely a charge density wave materia…
We report the resistivity of a series of fluorine-doped SmFeAsO1-xFx polycrystalline superconductors in magnetic fields up to 60T. For underdoped samples (x < 0.15), the low temperature resistive state is characterized by pronounced magneto-resistance and a resistive upturn at low temperatures. The "insulating behavior" is characterized by a log-T divergence observed over a decade in temperature. In contrast, the normal state for samples with doping x > 0.15 display metallic behavior with little magnetoresistance, where intense magnetic fields broaden the superconducting transition rather than…
We present a theoretical ab-initio approach that allows us to explicitly calculate the superconducting transition temperatures (Tc) of the iron-based superconductors of LaFeAsO1-xFx, SmFeAsO1-xFx, NdFeAsO1-xFx, Ba1-xKxFe2As2, FeSe and LiFeAs that fit perfectly with the experiments. We consider recent evidence that electron-phonon coupling may have been underestimated previously, and a prediction that antiferromagnetism can greatly enhance electron-phonon coupling through localized iron d orbitals. We then include the contribution of these localized orbitals in a McMillan formalism. In addition…
A crystallographic and magnetic phase diagram of SmFeAsO1-xFx is determined as a function of x in terms of temperature based on electrical transport and magnetization, synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction, 57Fe Mossbauer spectra (MS), and 149Sm nuclear resonant forward scattering (NRFS) measurements. MS revealed that the magnetic moments of Fe were aligned antiferromagnetically at ~144 K (TN(Fe)). The magnetic moment of Fe (MFe) is estimated to be 0.34 myuB/Fe at 4.2 K for undoped SmFeAsO; MFe is quenched in superconducting F-doped SmFeAsO. 149Sm NRFS spectra revealed that the magnetic moments…
The electronic nematic state without magnetization emerges in various strongly correlated metals such as Fe-based and cuprate superconductors. To understand this universal phenomenon, we focus on the nematic state in Ti-oxypnictide BaTi2(As,Sb)2O, which is expressed as the three-dimensional 10-orbital Hubbard model. The antiferromagnetic fluctuations are caused by the Fermi surface nesting. Interestingly, we find the spin-fluctuation-driven orbital order due to the strong orbital-spin interference, which is described by the Aslamazov-Larkin vertex correction (AL-VC). The predicted intra-unit-c…
We present heat capacity measurements of the upper critical fields of single-crystal NdFeAsO1-xFx. In zero-magnetic field a clear step in the heat capacity is observed at Tc = 47K . In fields applied perpendicular to the FeAs-layers the step broadens significantly whereas for the in-plane orientation the field effects are small. This behavior is reminiscent of the CuO2-high-Tc superconductors and is a manifestation of pronounced fluctuation effects. Using an entropy conserving construction we determine the transition temperatures in applied fields and the upper critical field slopes of dHc2,a …
The recently discovered oxypnictide superconductor SmFeAs(O,F) is the most attractive material among the Fe-based superconductors due to its highest transition temperature of 56 K and potential for high-field performance. In order to exploit this new material for superconducting applications, the knowledge and understanding of its electro-magnetic properties are needed. Recent success in fabricating epitaxial SmFeAs(O,F) thin films opens a great opportunity to explore their transport properties. Here we report on a high critical current density of over 10^5 A/cm^2 at 45 T and 4.2 K for both ma…
Understanding the role played by broken symmetry states such as charge, spin, and orbital orders in the mechanism of emergent properties such as high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) is a major current topic in materials research. That the order may be within one unit cell, such as nematic, was only recently considered theoretically, but its observation in the iron-pnictide and doped cuprate superconductors places it at the forefront of current research. Here we show that the recently discovered BaTi$_2$Sb$_2$O superconductor and its "parent" compound BaTi$_2$As$_2$O form a symmetry-breaki…
We report 75As-NQR/NMR studies on the oxygen-deficient iron(Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductors LaFeAsO_{0.6} (T_c=28 K) along with the results on LaFeAsO, LaFeAsO_{0.75}(T_c=20 K) and NdFeAsO_{0.6}(T_c=53 K). Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 of 75As NQR at zero field on LaFeAsO_{0.6} has revealed a T^3 dependence below T_c upon cooling without the coherence peak just below T_c, evidencing the unconventional superconducting state with the line-node gap. We have found an intimate relationship between the nuclear quadrupole frequencyof 75As and T_c for four samples used in this study…
Measurements of the electrical resistivities, Hall coefficients, thermoelectric powers, electronic specific heat coefficients have been carried out for samples of LnFe1-yMyAsO1-xFx (Ln=La, Nd; M=Co, Mn; x=0.11) obtained by M atom dopings to the superconducting LnFeAsO1-xFx (Ln1111) system. The NMR longitudinal relaxation rates 1/T1 have also been measured for samples of LaFe1-yCoyAsO1-xFx with various x values. Co atoms doped to the superconducting LnFeAsO1-xFx are nonmagnetic, and the Tc-suppression by the Co atoms has been found to be too weak to understand by the pair breaking effect expect…
We perform transport measurements and band structure calculations of electron-doped LaFeAsO1-xHx over a wide range of x from 0.01 to 0.66. The T^2 and sqrt(T) dependency of the resistivity are observed at x ~ 0.17 and 0.41, respectively. The sign change of RH without opening of the spin-density-wave gap for 0.45 < x < 0.58 and T < TN as well as the calculated non-nested Fermi surface at x = 0.5 indicate the more localized nature of the AF2 as compared to spin density wave phase at non-doped sample. Considering the results from band calculations and the finite size of Hund' s rule coupling, the…
The competition of magnetic order and superconductivity is a key element in the physics of all unconventional superconductors, e.g. in high-transition-temperature cuprates 1, heavy fermions 2 and organic superconductors3. Here superconductivity is often found close to a quantum critical point where long-range antiferromagnetic order is gradually suppressed as a function of a control parameter, e.g. charge carrier doping or pressure. It is believed that dynamic spin fluctuations associated with this quantum critical behaviour are crucial for the mechanism of superconductivity. Recently high-tem…
We present the first comprehensive derivation of the intrinsic electronic phase diagram of the iron-oxypnictide superconductors in the normal state based on the analysis of the electrical resistivity $ρ$ of both LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ and SmFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ for a wide range of doping. Our data give clear-cut evidence for unusual normal state properties in these new materials. In particular, the emergence of superconductivity at low doping levels is accompanied by distinct anomalous transport behavior in $ρ$ of the normal state which is reminiscent of the spin density wave (SDW) signature in th…
Since the discovery of copper oxide superconductor in 1986 [1], extensive efforts have been devoted to the search of new high-Tc superconducting materials, especially high-Tc systems other than cuprates. The recently discovered quaternary superconductor La[O1-xFx]FeAs with the superconducting critical transition Tc of 26 K [2], which has a much simple layered structure compared with cuprates, has attracted quick enthusiasm and is going to become a new high-Tc system [3-6]. Here we report the discovery of bulk superconductivity in the praseodymium-arsenide oxides Pr[O1-xFx]FeAs with an onset dr…
Local structure of NdFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$ ($x$=0.0, 0.05, 0.15 and 0.18) high temperature iron pnictide superconductor system is studied using arsenic $K$-edge extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements as a function of temperature. Fe-As bondlength shows only a weak temperature and F-substitution dependence, consistent with the strong covalent nature of this bond. The temperature dependence of the mean-square relative-displacements of the Fe-As bondlength are well described by the correlated-Einstein model for all the samples, but with different Einstein-temperatures for the superc…
We investigate the electronic states of a one-dimensional two-orbital Hubbard model with band splitting by the exact diagonalization method. The Luttinger liquid parameter $K_ρ$ is calculated to obtain superconducting (SC) phase diagram as a function of on-site interactions: the intra- and inter-orbital Coulomb $U$ and $U'$, the Hund coupling $J$, and the pair transfer $J'$. In this model, electron and hole Fermi pockets are produced when the Fermi level crosses both the upper and lower orbital bands. We find that the system shows two types of SC phases, the SC \Roman{u'-large} for $U>U'$ and …
We report $^{57}$Fe-NMR studies on the oxygen-deficient iron (Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductor LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ ($T_{c}=$ 28 K) enriched by $^{57}$Fe isotope. In the superconducting state, the spin component of $^{57}$Fe-Knight shift $^{57}K$ decreases almost to zero at low temperatures and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $^{57}(1/T_{1})$ exhibits a $T^{3}$-like dependence without the coherence peak just below $T_{c}$, which give firm evidence of the unconventional superconducting state formed by spin-singlet Cooper pairing. All these events below $T_c$ are consistently argued in t…
In layered single band systems, the interlayer conductivity depends on the orientation of the in-plane magnetic field and takes maximum values when the magnetic field is perpendicular to flat regions of the Fermi surface. Extending this known results to multi-band systems, we propose an experiment to extract information about their Fermi surface topology. We discuss application of the formula to a FeAs-based superconductor, LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$. We show that the magnetically ordered state in the parent compound is clearly distinguished from the paramagnetic state by the oscillation period in t…
We have investigated the fluorine-doping dependence of lattice constants, transports and specific heat for polycrystalline LaFePO1-xFx. F doping slightly and monotonically decreases the in-plane lattice parameter. In the normal state, electrical resistivity at low temperature is proportional to the square of temperature and the electronic specific heat coefficient has large value, indicating the existence of moderate electron-electron correlation in this system. Hall coefficient has large magnitude, and shows large temperature dependence, indicating the low carrier density and multiple carrier…
The iron-oxypnictide compounds, recently reported as a new class of superconductors when appropriately doped, exhibit large Seebeck coefficients, of the order of -100 microV/K, while keeping good electrical conductivity. Their power factor shows a peak at low temperatures, suggesting possible applications of these materials in thermoelectric cooling modules in the liquid nitrogen temperature range.
The electronic structure in the normal state of CeFeAsO0.89F0.11 oxypnictide superconductors has been investigated with x-ray absorption and photoemission spectroscopy. All the data exhibit signatures of Fe d-electron itinerancy. Exchange multiplets appearing in the Fe 3s core level indicate the presence of itinerant spin fluctuations. These findings suggest that the underlying physics and the origin of superconductivity in these materials are likely to be quite different from those of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. These materials provide opportunities for elucidating the role …
We use neutron scattering to study the structural and magnetic phase transitions in the iron pnictides CeFeAsO1-xFx as the system is tuned from a semimetal to a high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductor through Fluorine (F) doping x. In the undoped state, CeFeAsO develops a structural lattice distortion followed by a stripe like commensurate antiferromagnetic order with decreasing temperature. With increasing Fluorine doping, the structural phase transition decreases gradually while the antiferromagnetic order is suppressed before the appearance of superconductivity, resulting an el…
The recent observation of superconductivity with critical temperatures up to 55 K in the FeAs based pnictide compounds marks the first discovery of a non copper-oxide based layered high-Tc superconductor (HTSC) [1-3]. It has raised the suspicion that these new materials share a similar pairing mechanism to the cuprates, since both exhibit superconductivity following charge doping of a magnetic parent material. Here we present a muon spin rotation study on SmFeAsO1-xFx (x=0-0.30), which shows that static magnetism persists well into the superconducting regime. The analogy with the cuprates is q…
We have prepared the superconducting system LaFe1-yCoyAsO1-xFx (x=0.11) and carried out measurements of their electrical resistivities r and superconducting diamagnetisms. 75As- and 135La-NMR studies have also been carried out. The Knight shift observed for 75As has been found to be suppressed by the superconductivity, while for 135La, the shift is almost insensitive to the superconductivity. This result presents rather strong experimental evidence for the singlet pairing. The Co-doping effect on the superconducting transition temperature Tc is not so significant as expected for superconductor…
Iron arsenide superconductors based on the material LaFeAsO1-xFx are characterized by a two-dimensional Fermi surface (FS) consisting of hole and electron pockets yielding structural and antiferromagnetic transitions at x = 0. Electron doping by substituting O2- with F- suppresses these transitions and gives rise to superconductivity with a maximum Tc = 26 K at x = 0.1. However, the over-doped region cannot be accessed due to the poor solubility of F- above x = 0.2. Here we overcome this problem by doping LaFeAsO with hydrogen. We report the phase diagram of LaFeAsO1-xHx (x < 0.53) and, in add…
In the family of iron-based superconductors, LaFeAsO-type materials possess the simplest electronic structure due to their pronounced two-dimensionality. And yet they host superconductivity with the highest transition temperature Tc=55K. Early theoretical predictions of their electronic structure revealed multiple large circular portions of the Fermi surface with a very good geometrical overlap (nesting), believed to enhance the pairing interaction and thus superconductivity. The prevalence of such large circular features in the Fermi surface has since been associated with many other iron-base…
We report systematic 57Fe-NMR and 75As-NMR/NQR studies on an underdoped sample (T_c=20 K), an optimally doped sample (T_c=28 K), and an overdoped sample (T_c=22 K) of oxygen-deficient iron (Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductor LaFeAsO_{1-y}$. A microscopic phase separation between superconducting domains and magnetic domains is shown to take place in the underdoped sample, indicating a local inhomogeneity in association with the density distribution of oxygen deficiencies. As a result, 1/T_1T in the normal state of the superconducting domain decreases significantly upon cooling at both the Fe …
The F doped LaFeAsO, a recently discovered superconductor with the high Tc of 26 K, has been studied by the resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity measurements in the F doping range from 0 to 0.14 (x in LaFeAsO1-xFx). In the low temperature region, a T3lnT term in the heat capacity and a T2 term in the magnetic susceptibility, which are derived from the spin fluctuation, are observed. The nearly ferromagnetic nature evidenced by a large Wilson ratio (6.5 for x = 0, and 11.2 for x = 0.025) suggests that the superconductivity in the LaFeAsO system is mediated by ferromagnetic sp…
The transition temperature Tc~26 K of the recently discovered superconductor LaFeAs(O,F) has been demonstrated to be extremely sensitive to the lanthanide ion, reaching 55 K for the Sm containing oxypnictides. Therefore, it is important to determine how the moment on the lanthanide affects the overall magnetism in these systems. Here we report a neutron diffraction study of the Nd oxypnictides. Long ranged antiferromagnetic order is apparent in NdFeAsO below 1.96 K. Rietveld refinement shows that both Fe and Nd magnetic ordering are required to describe the observed data with the staggered mom…