Intermetallic compounds containing f-electron elements display a wealth of superconducting phases, that are prime candidates for unconventional pairing with complex order parameter symmetries. For instance, superconductivity has been found at the border of magnetic order as well as deep within ferro- and antiferromagnetically ordered states, suggesting that magnetism may promote rather than destroy superconductivity. Superconductivity near valence transitions, or in the vicinity of magneto-polar order are candidates for new superconductive pairing interactions such as fluctuations of the conduction electron density or the crystal electric field, respectively. The experimental status of the study of the superconducting phases of f-electron compounds is reviewed.
Reply to "Comment on <Emergence of a superconducting state from an antiferromagnetic phase in single crystals of the heavy fermion compound Ce2PdIn8> by Uhlirova et al."
X-band electron paramagnetic resonance on doped Er3+ and Yb3+ ions in Y0.99(Yb,Er)0.01Ba2Cu3OX compounds with different oxygen contents in the wide temperature range (4-120)K have been made. In the superconducting species, the strong dependencies of the linewidth and resonance line position from the sweep direction of the applied magnetic field are revealed at the temperatures significantly below TC. The possible origins of the observed hysteresis are analyzed. Applicability of the presented EPR approach to extract information about the dynamics of the flux-line lattice and critical state para…
The samples of composition RuSr2(Ln3/4Ce1/4)2Cu2O10 with Ln = Ho, Y and Dy. being synthesized by high pressure high temperature (6Gpa, 1200 0C) solid state synthesis route do crystallize in space group I4/mmm. These samples exhibit magnetic transitions at ~150 K with significant branching of zfc (zero-field-cooled) and fc (field-cooled) magnetization and a sharp cusp in zfc at ~ 100 K, followed by a superconducting transition at lower temperatures. All the compounds show typical ferromagnetic hysteresis loops in magnetic moment (M) versus field (H) magnetization at 5 K. Near saturation of the …
Single crystals of Ce2PdIn8 were studied by means of magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity and specific heat measurements. The compound was found to be a heavy fermion clean-limit superconductor with Tc = 0.68 K. Most remarkably, the superconductivity in this system emerges out of the antiferromagnetic state that sets in at TN = 10 K, and both cooperative phenomena coexist in a bulk at ambient pressure conditions.
We present evidence for unconventional superconducting fluctuations in a heavy-fermion compound CeNi$_2$Ge$_2$. The temperature dependence of the $^{73}$Ge nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation rate $1/T_1$ indicates the development of magnetic correlations and the formation of a Fermi-liquid state at temperatures lower than $T_{\rm FL}=0.4$ K, where $1/T_1T$ is constant. The resistance and $1/T_1T$ measured on an as-grown sample decrease below $T_{\rm c}^{\rm onset} = 0.2$ K and $T_{\rm c}^{\rm NQR} = 0.1$ K, respectively; these are indicative of the onset of superconductivity. However, after annea…
The in-plane $ρ_{ab}(H,T)$ and the out-of-plane $ρ_c(H,T)$ magneto-transport in magnetic fields up to 28 T has been investigated in high quality non-superconducting (down to 20 mK) La-free Bi$_{2+x}$Sr$_{2-x}$CuO$_{6+δ}$ single crystal. By measuring the angular dependence of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistivities at temperatures from 1 K down to 30 mK, we present evidence for the presence of vortex-like excitations in a non-superconducting cuprate in the insulating state. Such excitations have previously been observed by the detection of a Nernst signal in superconducting cuprates …
The order parameter and pairing mechanism for superconductivity in heavy fermion compounds are still poorly understood. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at ultra-low temperatures can yield important information about the superconducting order parameter and the gap structure. Here, we study the first heavy fermion superconductor, CeCu_2Si_2. Our data show the superconducting gap which is not fully formed and exhibits features that point to a multi-gap order parameter. Spatial mapping of the zero bias conductance in magnetic field reveals the vortex lattice, which allows us to uneq…
Non-centrosymmetric superconductors have recently attracted much attention, since the lack of inversion symmetry mixes spin singlet and triplet pairing states, which may allow the realization of topological superconductivity. In this work, we study the electronic properties of the family of inversion-broken CeTX$_3$ heavy-fermion superconductors, finding topological nodal lines as well as Dirac and Weyl points, which are renormalized closer to the Fermi energy by correlations. We find that the Weyl nodal lines have a substantial effect on the Fermi surface spin structure of the normal state, a…
LaBaCaCu3O7 (La:1113) and NdBaCaCu3O7 (Nd:1113) compounds are synthesized by solid state reaction route. Both compounds crystallize in tetragonal structure. Four probe resistivity measurements showed that superconducting transition temperature (Tc) is 73 K and 41 K respectively for La:1113 and Nd:1113 compounds. Considering the fact that for RE:123 (REBa2Cu3O7) compounds the Tc hardly depends upon the choice of RE (Rare earth, except Ce, Pr and Tb), the current nearly two fold increase in Tc of La:1113 when compared to Nd:1113, warrants serious discussion.
RuSr2(LnCe2)Cu2O12.25 (Ru-1232) compounds with Ln = Y and Dy being synthesized by high pressure high temperature (6GPa, 12000C) solid state synthesis route do crystallize in space group P4/mmm in near single phase form with small quantities of SrRuO3 and RuSr2(RE1.5Ce0.5)Cu2O10 (Ru-1222). Both samples exhibit magnetic transitions (Tmag.) at ~90 K with significant branching of zfc (zero-field-cooled) and fc (field-cooled) magnetization and a sharp cusp in zfc at ~ 70 K, followed by superconducting transitions at ~ 30 K. Both compounds show typical ferromagnetic hysteresis loops in magnetic mome…
We have performed photoemission studies of the electronic structure in LiC$_6$ and KC$_8$, a non-superconducting and a superconducting graphite intercalation compound, respectively. We have found that the charge transfer from the intercalant layers to graphene layers is larger in KC$_8$ than in LiC$_6$, opposite of what might be expected from their chemical composition. We have also measured the strength of the electron-phonon interaction on the graphene-derived Fermi surface to carbon derived phonons in both materials and found that it follows a universal trend where the coupling strength and…
In their comment Calandra \textit{et al} \cite{Calandra}, assert two points: (1) the estimate of charge transfer from Li to graphene layers in LiC$_6$ in our letter \cite{Pan2011c} is incorrect because of the three dimensional (3D) character of the electronic structure in bulk LiC$_6$; (2) our main claim that the superconductivity in graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) is graphene-sheet-driven is therefore invalid.
We report on a pressure($P$)-induced evolution of superconductivity and spin correlations in CeIrIn$_5$ via the $^{115}$In nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation rate measurements. We find that applying pressure suppresses dramatically the antiferromagnetic fluctuations that are strong at ambient pressure. At $P$ = 2.1 GPa, $T_{\rm c}$ increases to $T_{\rm c}$ = 0.8 K that is twice $T_{\rm c}$($P$ = 0 GPa), in the background of Fermi liquid state. This is in sharp contrast with the previous case in which negative, chemical pressure (replacing Ir with Rh) enhances magnetic interaction and increases $T…
To examine the thermodynamic properties of Pr$_{2}$Ba$_{4}$Cu$_{7}$O$_{15-δ}$ compounds with metallic CuO double chains, we measured the specific heats of superconducting and non-superconducting polycrystalline samples at low temperatures (1.8-40 K) under various magnetic fields (up to 9 T). In the as-sintered non-superconducting sample, a $λ-$like enhancement in the specific heat measurement appeared near the antiferromagnetic transition temperature $T_{N}=17$ K. In contrast, the reduced superconducting sample with $T_{c,on}=26.5$ K exhibited no obvious superconducting anomaly in its specific…
Based on the five-orbital model, we derive the reduced impurity scattering rate $g=zγ/2πT_{c0}$ in Sm(Fe$_{1-x}$Ru$_{x}$)AsO$_{0.85}$F$_{0.15}$ from the residual resistivity. At $x=0$, the transition temperature is $T_{c0}=50$ K. For $0.05<x<0.36$ ($0.84>T_{c}/T_{c0}>0.3$) the obtained value of $g$ ranges from 1.5 to 2.9, which suggests that the $s_\pm$-wave state cannot survive. We point out that the magnetoresistance frequently gives an underestimated value of $g$ in correlated electron systems.
We find possible superconducting states for tetrahedral (Th) symmetry crystals with strong spin-orbit coupling using Landau theory. Additional symmetry breaking within the superconducting state is considered. We discuss nodes of the gap functions for the different states, secondary superconducting order parameters and coupling to the elastic strain. By comparing our results to experiments, we find that superconductivity in PrOs4Sb12 is best described by the three-dimensional representations of point group Th.
Newly discovered Bi-O-S compounds remain an enigma in attempts to understand their electronic properties. A recent study of Bi$_{4}$O$_{4}$S$_{3}$ has shown it to be a mixture of two phases, Bi$_{2}$OS$_{2}$ and Bi$_{3}$O$_{2}$S$_{3}$, the latter being superconducting [W. A. Phelan et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 5372 (2013)]. Using density functional theory, we explore the electronic structure of both the phases and the effect of the introduction of stacking faults. Our results demonstrate that the S$_{2}$ layers dope the bismuth-sulphur bands. The bands at the Fermi level are of clear two-dim…
Neutrons have played an important role in advancing our understanding of the pairing mechanism and the symmetry of the superconducting energy gap in the iron arsenide compounds. Neutron measurements of the phonon density-of-state are in good agreement with ab initio calculations, provided the magnetism of the iron atoms is taken into account. However, the predicted superconducting transition temperatures are less than 1 K, making a conventional phononic mechanism for superconductivity highly unlikely. Measurements of the spin dynamics within the spin density wave phase of the parent compounds …
We investigate the properties of cuprate superconductors subject to applied current, using modified Gutzwiller projected d-wave BCS states. The parent states include quasiparticle and quasihole pockets, of variationally determined size, generated by the current. We identify two different mechanisms for the destruction of superconductivity at the critical current: at high hole doping (x>0.15) the pockets grow and completely destroy the gap, in a BCS-like mechanism; in the underdoped regime, the superfluid stiffness vanishes at a maximal phase twist with pairing still intact. This result is indi…
In the present work, we measure the temperature dependent electrical resistivity from 300K down to 2K under applied hydrostatic pressure of upto 2.5GPa for SrFBiS2, which is the parent compound for the BiS2 based superconductors. Though the normal state resistivity of the compound decreases with pressure, the same is not superconducting down to 2K under applied pressure of up to 2.5Gpa.
We apply the fermion renormalization group method, implemented numerically by Honerkamp et.al., to a two-band model of FeAs-based materials. At half filling we find the $(π,0)$ or $(0,π)$ spin density wave order and a sub-dominant superconducting pairing tendency. Due to a topological reason, the spin density wave gap has nodes on the fermi surfaces. Away from half filling we find an unconventional s-wave and a sub-dominant $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing instability. The former has $s$ symmetry around the hole fermi surface but exhibits $s+d_{x^2-y^2}$ symmetry around the electron pockets where the 90 …
Effect of atomic disordering induced by irradiation with fast neutrons on the properties of the normal and superconducting states of polycrystalline samples FeSe has been studied. The irradiation with fast neutrons of fluencies up to 1.25\cdot10^20 cm^-2 at the irradiation temperature Tirr ~ 50 \degree C results in relatively small changes in the temperature of the superconducting transition T_c and electrical resistivity Rho_25. Such a behavior is considered to be traceable to rather low, with respect to that possible at a given irradiation temperature, concentration of radiation defects, whi…
Herewith, we review the available experimental data of thermoelectric transport properties of iron-based superconductors and parent compounds. We discuss possible physical mechanisms into play in determining the Seebeck effect, from whence one can extract information about Fermi surface reconstruction and Lifshitz transitions, multiband character, coupling of charge carriers with spin excitations and its relevance in the unconventional superconducting pairing mechanism, nematicity, quantum critical fluctuations close to the optimal doping for superconductivity, correlation. Additional informat…
The ab initio calculations suggest that the superconducting state in CaH6 under the pressure at 150 GPa has the highest critical temperature among the examined hydrogen-rich compounds. For this reason, the relevant thermodynamic parameters of the superconducting state in CaH6 have been determined; a wide range of the Coulomb pseudopotential has been assumed: $μ^{\star}\in\left<0.1,0.3\right>$. It has been found that: (i) The critical temperature (Tc) changes in the range from 243 K to 180 K. (ii) The values of the ratio of the energy gap to the critical temperature ($R_Δ\equiv 2Δ\left(0\right)…
We present materials informatics approach to search for superconducting hydrogen compounds, which is based on a genetic algorithm and a genetic programming. This method consists of four stages: (i) search for stable crystal structures of materials by a genetic algorithm, (ii) collection of physical and chemical property data by first-principles calculations, (iii) development of superconductivity predictor based on the database by a genetic programming, and (iv) discovery of potential candidates by regression analysis. By repeatedly performing the process as (i) $\rightarrow$ (ii) $\rightarrow…
High resolution photoemission measurements have been carried out on non-superconducting SmOFeAs parent compound and superconducting Sm(O$_{1-x}$F$_x$)FeAs (x=0.12, and 0.15) compounds. The momentum-integrated spectra exhibit a clear Fermi cutoff that shows little leading-edge shift in the superconducting state which suggests the Fermi surface sheet(s) around the $Γ$ point may not be gapped in this multiband superconductors. A robust feature at 13 meV is identified in all these samples. Spectral weight suppression near E$_F$ with decreasing temperature is observed in both undoped and doped samp…
The out-of-plane intercalate phonons of superconducting YbC6 have been measured with inelastic x-ray scattering. Model fits to this data, and previously measured out-of-plane intercalate phonons in graphite intercalation compounds (GICs), reveal surprising trends with the superconducting transition temperature. These trends suggest that superconducting GICs should be viewed as electron-doped graphite.
The nonsymmorphic Zr$_{2}$Ir alloy is a possible topological semimetal candidate material and as such may be part of an exotic class of superconductors. Zr$_{2}$Ir is a superconductor with a transition temperature of 7.4 K with critical fields of 19.6(3) mT and 3.79(3) T, as determined by heat capacity and magnetisation. Zero field muon spin relaxation measurements show that time-reversal symmetry is preserved in these materials. The specific heat and transverse field muon spin rotation measurements rule out any possibility to have a nodal or anisotropic superconducting gap, revealing a conven…
The effect of radiation-induced disordering in a nuclear reactor (fast neutrons fluence Φ= 5\cdot10^{19} cm^2, T_{\text{irr}} = 340 K) on resistivity ρ, superconducting transition temperature T_C and upper critical field H_{C_2} of polycrystalline MgCNi_3 samples was investigated. It was found that T_C decreases under irradiation from 6.5 to 2.9 K and completely recovers after annealing at 600 ^\circC. Temperature dependences ρ(T) are characteristic of compounds with strong electron-phonon interaction. The dH_{C_2}/dT behaviour testifies to a considerable decrease in density of electronic stat…
Synthesis, electrical and magnetic characterization of superconducting FeSe0.85 compound is reported. An anomaly in the magnetization against temperature around 90K is observed. Magnetic characterization of a commercial compound with nominal FeSe stoichiometry is also presented. The overall magnetic behaviors as well as the magnetic anomaly in both compounds are discussed in terms of magnetic impurities and secondary phases. Keyword: A. Superconductors
We report $^{123}$Sb nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements of the filled skutterudite heavy-fermion superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$ under high pressures of 1.91 and 2.34 GPa. The temperature dependence of NQR frequency and the spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ indicate that the crystal-electric-field splitting $Δ_{\rm CEF}$ between the ground state $Γ_1$ singlet and the first excited state $Γ_4^{(2)}$ triplet decreases with increasing pressure. The 1/$T_1$ below $T_c$ = 1.55 K at $P$ = 1.91 GPa shows a power-law temperature variation and is proportional to $T^5$ at temperatures c…
We present a study of the superconducting energy gap performed with point contact spectroscopy in a single crystal of the superconductor Zr0:97V0:03B2. We determined the size and evolution with temperature of the energy gap, the transition temperature in the compound occurs at the onset of Tc = 9.3 K. The point contact junctions were measured from 1.7 to 20 K. The differential conductance as a function of bias voltage was analyzed with the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model, the evolution of the gap with temperature was compared with the BCS theory, the ratio 2Δ(0)/KBTC was of the order of 8.95 in…
We report the superconductivity at enhanced temperature of 5.2 K in the polycrystalline sample of ZrTe3 and Ni intercalated ZrTe3. ZrTe3 is a Charge Density Wave (T = 63K) compound, which is known to superconduct only below 2K in single crystalline form. We discuss that the intergrain strains in the polycrystalline samples induces an intrinsic pressure and thus enhances the transition temperature. Fe intercalation of ZrTe3 kills both the charge density wave and superconducting states, gives rise to the magnetic ordering in the compound.
The tetragonal Mo$_5$PB$_2$ compound was recently reported to show superconductivity with a critical temperature up to 9.2 K. In search of evidence for multiple superconducting gaps in Mo$_5$PB$_2$, comprehensive measurements, including magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, heat capacity, and muon-spin rotation and relaxation ($μ$SR) measurements were carried out. Data from both low-temperature superfluid density and electronic specific heat suggest a nodeless superconducting ground state in Mo$_5$PB$_2$. Two superconducting energy gaps $Δ_0$ = 1.02 meV (25%) and 1.49 meV (75%) are …
Palladium hydrides display the largest isotope effect anomaly known in literature. Replacement of hydrogen with the heavier isotopes leads to higher superconducting temperatures, a behavior inconsistent with harmonic theory. Solving the self-consistent harmonic approximation by a stochastic approach, we obtain the anharmonic free energy, the thermal expansion and the superconducting properties fully ab initio. We find that the phonon spectra are strongly renormalized by anharmonicity far beyond the perturbative regime. Superconductivity is phonon mediated, but the harmonic approximation largel…
We report an optical spectroscopy study on the single crystal of Na$_2$Ti$_2$As$_2$O, a sister compound of superconductor BaTi$_2$Sb$_2$O. The study reveals unexpectedly two density wave phase transitions. The first transition at 320 K results in the formation of a large energy gap and removes most part of the Fermi surfaces. But the compound remains metallic with residual itinerant carriers. Below 42 K, another density wave phase transition with smaller energy gap scale occurs and drives the compound into semiconducting ground state. These experiments thus enable us to shed light on the compl…
We report on muon spin rotation/relaxation and $^{119}$Sn nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements to study the microscopic superconducting and magnetic properties of the Heusler compound with the highest superconducting transition temperature, \ypd\ ($T_c=5.4$ K). Measurements in the vortex state provide the temperature dependence of the effective magnetic penetration depth $λ(T)$ and the field dependence of the superconducting gap $Δ(0)$. The results are consistent with a very dirty s-wave BCS superconductor with a gap $Δ(0)=0.85(3)$ meV, $λ(0)= 212(1)$ nm, and a Ginzburg-Landau coheren…
The compound Y2PdGe3 was earlier reported by us to be one of the very few ternary superconducting compounds (T_c= 3 K) belonging to the same structure as that of MgB2. Here we report the results of electrical resistivity, magnetization and heat capacity measurements at low temperatures on the solid solution with a nominal starting composition, Y2Pd(1-x)Pt(x)Ge3, to understand the influence of gradual replacement of Pd by Pt on T_c. The superconducting properties of this solution is distinctly interesting in the sense that the Tc varies monotonically with increasing x in sharp contrast to the n…
The in-plane thermal conductivity of iron-based superconductor Ca$_{10}$(Pt$_{4-δ}$As$_8$)((Fe$_{1-x}$Pt$_{x}$)$_2$As$_2$)$_5$ single crystal (``10-4-8", $T_c$ = 22 K) was measured down to 80 mK. In zero field, the residual linear term $κ_0/T$ is negligible, suggesting nodeless superconducting gaps in this multiband compound. In magnetic fields, $κ_0/T$ increases rapidly, which mimics those of multiband superconductor NbSe$_2$ and LuNi$_2$B$_2$C with highly anisotropic gap. Such a field dependence of $κ_0/T$ is an evidence for multiple superconducting gaps with quite different magnitudes or hi…
We have identifies the otical phonon modes of the superconducting infinite-layer compounds Sr$_{0.9}Ln_{0.1}$CuO$_2$ ($Ln$ = La, Gd, Sm; $T_c$ = 43 K for all) from their infrared reflectivity spectra obtained with a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer on high-quality high-purity samples synthesized under high pressure. The La- and the Gd-doped compounds exhibited only four (2$A_{\rm 2u}$+2$E_{\rm u}$) out of the five (2$A_{\rm 2u}$+3$E_{\rm u}$) infrared-active phonon modes predicted by a group theoretical analysis whereas the Sm-doped compound exhibited all five modes. We propose the atom…
Layered van der Waals (vdW) materials are emerging as one of the most versatile directions in the field of quantum condensed matter physics. They allow an unprecedented control of electronic properties via stacking of different types of two-dimensional (2D) materials. A fascinating frontier, largely unexplored, is the stacking of strongly-correlated phases of matter in vdW materials. Here, we study 4Hb-TaS$_2$, which naturally realizes an alternating stacking of a Mott insulator, recently reported as a gapless spin-liquid candidate(1T-TaS$_2$), and a 2D superconductor (1H-TaS$_2$). This raises…
Recent several experiments revealed that novel bipartite magnetic/superconducting phases widely exist in iron pnictides and chalcogenides. Nevertheless, the origin of the two-dome superconducting phases in iron-based compounds still remains unclear. Here we theoretically investigated the electronic structures, magnetic and superconducting properties of three representative iron-based systems, i.e. LaFeAsO1-xHx, LaFeAs1-xPxO and KFe2As2. We found that in addition to the degenerate in-plane anisotropic xz/yz orbitals, the quasi-degenerate in-plane isotropic orbitals drive these systems entering …
The quantum critical Antiferromagnetic (AFM) fluctuation spectra measured by inelastic neutron scattering recently in two heavy fermion superconductors are used together with their other measured properties to calculate their D-wave superconducting transition temperatures $T_{\rm c}$. To this end, the linearized Eliashberg equations for D-wave superconductivity induced by AFM fluctuations are solved in models of fermions with various levels of nesting. The results for the ratio of $T_{\rm c}$ to the characteristic spin-fluctuation energy are well parametrized by a dimensionless coupling consta…
We present the influences of electronic and magnetic correlations and doping evolution on the groundstate properties of recently discovered superconductor Ba$_{2}$CuO$_{4-δ}$ by utilizing the Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave boson method. Starting with an effective two-orbital Hubbard model (Scalapino {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. {\bf B 99}, 224515 (2019)), we demonstrate that with increasing doping concentration, the paramagnetic (PM) system evolves from two-band character to single-band ones around the electron filling n=2.5, with the band nature of the $d_{3z^{2}-r^{2}}$ and $d_{x^{2}-y^{2}}$ orbitals …
It is well established that the occurrence of superconductivity in iron pnictides is closely related to the tetragonal to orthorhombic structural and antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transitions. It, however, has not been clear whether the same scenario is appropriate for iron chalcogenide counterparts due to the absence of parent compounds for the latter family of superconductors. Here, we report the synthesis and structure determination of two novel phases in ethylenediamine intercalated FeSe, one is tetragonal and the other orthorhombic in room temperature, which can be stabilized with neutral…
In this short review, some bulk threshold phenomena of the unconventional superconductivity in the strontium ruthenate compound (Sr2RuO4) are mentioned. Particularly, in Sr2RuO4, the Ehrenfest relations, the velocity propagation of the elastic field modes, and the ultrasound attenuation find a common point to study elastic anisotropic lattice field effects at the transition temperature (Tc) between the normal and the superconducting state. Ehrenfest relations are suitable for establishing a phase diagram of the Tc point according to symmetry consideration of the electrons pairs in unconvention…
We represent the superconducting ceramic compounds by the single band extended Hubbard model. We solve this model for the simultaneous presence of antiferromagnetism and the d-wave superconductivity in the Hartree-Fock (H-F) and in the coherent potential (CP) approximation, which is applied to the on-site Coulomb repulsion U. The hopping interaction used in addition to the Coulomb repulsion causes rapid expansion of the band at carrier concentrations departing from unity. This expansion shifts the d-wave superconductivity away from the half filled point reducing its occupation range approximat…
We report a detailed study of the electronic and structural properties of the 39K superconductor \mgbtwo and of several related systems of the same family, namely \mgalbtwo, \bebtwo, \casitwo and \cabesi. Our calculations, which include zone-center phonon frequencies and transport properties, are performed within the local density approximation to the density functional theory, using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) and the norm-conserving pseudopotential methods. Our results indicate essentially three-dimensional properties for these compounds; however, strongly two-…
The topologically non-trivial band structure of A15 compounds has drawn attention owing to the possible realization of topological superconductivity. Here, we report a microscopic investigation of the superconducting ground state in A15 compound Ti$_{3}$X (X = Ir, Sb) by muon spectroscopy measurements. Zero field muon measurements have shown that time-reversal symmetry is preserved in these materials. Furthermore, specific heat and a transverse field muon spectroscopy measurement rule out any possibility to have a nodal or anisotropic superconducting gap, revealing a conventional s-wave nature…
The discovery of about 50 K superconductivity in the tetragonal Fe-based pnictides has stimulated the search for superconductivity in a wide class of materials with similar structure. Copper forms compounds isostructural to LaOFeAs. Single phase BiOCuS can be prepared by a solid state reaction at temperature lower than 500 C from a mixture of Bi2O3, Bi2S3 and Cu2S. The samples have been characterized by means of EDX analysis, X-ray diffraction, magnetic and electrical measurements. The cell parameters are a = 3.8708 A, c = 8.565 A. Charge carrier doping can be realized either by F substitution…
We report the magnetization and the susceptibility measurements of the RuSr_2GdCu_2O_y and RuSr_2NdCu_2O_x perovskite materials. We find that RuSr_2GdCu_2O_y compound exhibits a magnetic transition at Tn=135 K followed by a superconducting one with an onset Tc=35 K. Samples of RuSr_2NdCu_2O_x material have shown neither superconductivity nor magnetic transition. XRD measurements show that in RuSr_2NdCu_2O_x the Nd ions tend to substitute to Sr ions in very high percentages. The relevance of this phenomenon on the absence of superconductivity in RuSr_2NdCu_2O_x is discussed.
We report on an experimental study of the effect of Mn impurities in the optimally doped LaFeAsO$_{0.89}$F$_{0.11}$ compound. The results show that a very tiny amount of Mn, of the order of 0.1\%, is enough to destroy superconductivity and to recover at low temperatures both the magnetic ground state and the orthorhombic structure of the pristine LaFeAsO parent compound. The results are discussed within a model where electron correlations enhance the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction among impurities.
Electronic structures of orthorhombic ternary nickel silicides: superconducting Lu2Ni3Si5 and its non-superconducting counterpart, Y2Ni3Si5, have been calculated employing the fully-relativistic and full-potential local-orbital method within the density functional theory. Our investigations were focused particularly on the band structures and Fermi surfaces (FSs), being very similar for both ternaries. It appears that their FSs exist in four bands and contain electronlike and holelike three-dimensional sheets and small pockets, which suggests a presence of two- or even multi-band superconducti…
In this work we present a systematic experimental and theoretical study of the structural, transport and superconducting properties of Sm(Fe1-xRux)As(O0.85F0.15) polycrystalline samples as a function of Ru content (x) ranging from 0 to 1. The choice of Ru as isoelectronic substitution at Fe site of F-doped compounds allows to better clarify the role of structural disorder in modifying the normal and superconducting properties of these newly discovered multiband superconductors. Two different regions are identified: the Fe-rich phase (x<0.5) where superconducting and normal state properties are…
The M-1222 compounds are synthesized in near single phase form. These compounds crystallise in I4/mmm Tetragonal structure. None of the studied compound is superconducting but they asre weakly magnetic. This is first report on synthesis of Cr and Mn -1222 compounds. These compounds are synthesized at ultra conditions of HPHT that is the 6 Gpa and 1400 C.
