The normal-state charge transport is studied systematically in high-quality single crystals of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ ($0 \leq x \leq 0.71$). By substituting isovalent P for As, the spin-density-wave (SDW) state is suppressed and the dome-shaped superconducting phase ($T_c \lesssim 31$ K) appears. Near the SDW end point ($x\approx0.3$), we observe striking linear temperature ($T$) dependence of resistivity in a wide $T$-range, and remarkable low-$T$ enhancement of Hall coefficient magnitude from the carrier number estimates. We also find that the magnetoresistance apparently violates the Kohler's rule and is well scaled by the Hall angle $Θ_H$ as $Δρ_{xx}/ρ_{xx} \propto \tan^2Θ_H$. These non-Fermi liquid transport anomalies cannot be attributed to the simple multiband effects. These results capture universal features of correlated electron systems in the presence of strong antiferromagnetic fluctuations.
Spin dynamics evolution of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ was probed as a function of P concentration via $^{31}$P NMR. Our NMR study reveals that two-dimensional antiferromagnetic (AF) fluctuations are notably enhanced with little change in static susceptibility on approaching the AF phase from the superconducting dome. Moreover, magnetically ordered temperature $θ$ deduced from the relaxation rate vanishes at optimal doping. These results provide clear-cut evidence for a quantum-critical point (QCP), suggesting that the AF fluctuations associated with the QCP play a central role in the high-$…
We present specific heat measurements on a series of BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 single crystals with phosphorous doping ranging from x = 0.3 to 0.55. Our results reveal that BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 follows the scaling Delta_C/Tc ~ Tc^2 remarkably well. The clean-limit nature of this material imposes new restraints on theories aimed at explaining the scaling. Furthermore, we find that the Ginzburg-Landau parameter decreases significantly with doping whereas the superconducting anisotropy is gamma~2.6, independent of doping.
We report $^{31}$P- and $^{75}$As-NMR studies on (Ca$_4$Al$_2$O$_{6}$)Fe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ with an isovalent substitution of P for As. We present the novel evolution of emergent phases that the nodeless superconductivity (SC) in 0$\le x \le$0.4 and the nodal one around $x$=1 are intimately separated by the onset of a commensurate stripe-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) order in 0.5$\le x \le$ 0.95, as an isovalent substitution of P for As decreases a pnictogen height $h_{Pn}$ measured from the Fe plane. It is demonstrated that the AFM order takes place under a condition of 1.32Å$\le h_{Pn} …
We report on the systematic evolution of vortex pinning behavior in isovalent doped single crystals of BaFe2(As1-xPx)2. Proceeding from optimal doped to ovedoped samples, we find a clear transfor- mation of the magnetization hysteresis from a fishtail behavior to a distinct peak effect followed by a reversible magnetization and Bean Livingston surface barriers. Strong point pinning dominates the vortex behavior at low fields whereas weak collective pinning determines the behavior at higher fields. In addition to doping effects, we show that particle irradiation by energetic protons can tune vo…
We report that the isovalent Rh doping of IrTe2 suppresses the structural/electronic phase transition and induces superconductivity at 2.6 K. The doping level of Rh that is necessary for suppressing the transition is three times higher than those of Pt and Pd. Ir1-xRhxTe2 might provide us with a unique opportunity to study the origin of the structural/electronic phase transition in IrTe2.
We have studied the three-dimensional shapes of the Fermi surfaces (FSs) of BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 (x=0.38), where superconductivity is induced by isovalent P substitution, by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Moderately strong electron mass enhancement has been identified for both the electron and hole FSs. Among two observed hole FSs, the nearly two-dimensional one shows good nesting with the outer two-dimensional electron FS, but its orbital character is different from the outer electron FS. The three-dimensional hole FS shows poor nesting with the electron FSs. The present results sugges…
Recent experiments demonstrated that isovalent doping system gives the similar phase diagram as the heterovalent doped cases. For example, with the phosphorous (P)-doping, the magnetic order in BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ compound is first suppressed, then the superconductivity dome emerges to an extended doping region but eventually it disappears at large $x$. With the help of a minimal two-orbital model for both BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ and BaFe$_{2}$P$_{2}$, together with the self-consistent lattice Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equation, we calculate the phase diagram against the P content …
We have previously shown that most of the anomalies in the superconducting characteristics of cuprates and ferropnictides observed at dopant concentrations within the superconducting dome, as well as the position of the domes in the phase diagrams, do not require knowledge of the details of their electronic structure for explanation, but can be understood and calculated with high accuracy within the framework of a simple model describing the cluster structure of the superconducting phase. This fact suggests a change in the paradigm that forms our understanding of HTSC. In this paper, we propos…
We report the synthesis of new superconducting cuprates T'-La2-xRExCuO4 (RE = Sm, Eu, Tb, Lu, and Y) using molecular beam epitaxy. The new superconductors have no effective dopant, at least nominally. The substitution of isovalent RE for La was essentially performed to stabilize the T' phase of La2CuO4 instead of the T phase. The maximum Tconset is ~ 25 K and Tczero is ~ 21 K. The keys to our discovery are (1) the preparation of high-crystalline-quality La-based T' films by low-temperature (~650C) thin film processes, and (2) more thorough removal of impurity oxygen at the apical site, which i…
Temperature-dependent London penetration depth, $λ(T)$, was measured in optimally - doped, $x=$0.35, as-grown ($T_c \approx$25 K, RRR=$ρ(300K)/ρ(T_c)$=4.5) and annealed ($T_c \approx$35 K, RRR=6.4) single crystals of SrFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_2$ iron - based superconductor. Annealing increases the RRR and decreases the absolute value of the London penetration depth from $λ(0) = 300 \pm 10$ nm in as-grown sample to $λ(0) = 275 \pm 10$ nm. At low temperatures, $λ(T) \sim T$ indicating superconducting gap with line nodes. Analysis of the full - temperature range superfluid density is consisten…
Pnictides provide an opportunity to study the effects of quantum criticality in a multi-band high temperature superconductor. Quasiparticle mass divergence near optimal doping, observed in two major classes of high-temperature superconductors, pnictides and cuprates, is a direct experimental indicator of enhanced electronic interactions that accompany quantum criticality. Whether quasiparticles on all Fermi surface pockets in BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 are affected by quantum criticality is an open question, which specific heat measurements at high magnetic fields can directly address. Here we report spe…
Motivated by recent experimental investigations of the isovalent doping iron-based superconductors LaFe(AsxP1-x)O1-yFy and NdFe(AsxP1-x)O1-yFy we theoretically study the correlation between the local lattice structure, the Fermi surface, the spin fluctuation-mediated superconductivity, and the composition ratio. In the phosphides, the dXZ and dYZ orbitals barely hybridize around the Gamma point to give rise to two intersecting ellipse shape Fermi surfaces. As the arsenic content increases and the Fe-As-Fe bond angle is reduced, the hybridization increases, so that the two bands are mixed to re…
We use magnetic force microscopy (MFM) to characterize superconductivity across the superconducting dome in ${\rm {BaFe}_2 \left(As_{1-x}P_x\right)_2}$, a pnictide with a peak in the penetration depth ($λ_{ab}$) at optimal doping ($\rm x_{opt}$), as shown in sample-wide measurements. Our local measurements show a peak at $\rm x_{opt}$ and a $T_C$ vs. $λ_{ab}^{-2}$ dependence similar on both sides of $\rm x_{opt}$. Near the underdoped edge of the dome $λ_{ab}$ increases sharply suggesting that superconductivity competes with another phase. Indeed MFM vortex imaging shows correlated defects para…
Charge doping of iron-pnictide superconductors leads to collective pinning of flux vortices, whereas isovalent doping does not. Moreover, flux pinning in the charge-doped compounds is consistently described by the mean-free path fluctuations introduced by the dopant atoms, allowing for the extraction of the elastic quasiparticle scattering rate. The absence of scattering by dopant atoms in isovalently doped BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ is consistent with the observation of a linear temperature dependence of the low-temperature penetration depth in this material.
The superconductivity in high temperature superconductors ordinarily arises when doped with hetero-valent ions that introduce charge carriers. However, in ferropnictides, "iso-valent" doping, which is generally believed not to introduce charge carriers, can induce superconductivity as well. Moreover, unlike other ferropnictides, the superconducting gap in BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 has been found to contain nodal lines. The exact nature of the "iso-valent" doping and nodal gap here are key open issues in building a comprehensive picture of the iron-based high temperature superconductors. With angle-resol…
We present a broadband optical-conductivity study of superconducting single-crystalline EuFe2(As1-xPx)2 with three different substitutional levels. We analyze the normal-state electrodynamics by decomposing the conductivity spectra using a Drude-Lorentz model with two Drude terms representing two groups of carriers with different scattering rates. The analysis reveals that the scattering rate of at least one of the Drude components develops linearly with temperature for each doping level. This points towards strong electron-electron correlations and a non-Fermi-liquid behavior in the P-substit…
The substitutional dependence of valence and spin-state configurations of Sr(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ ($x =$ 0, 0.05, 0.11, 0.17, and 0.38) is investigated with near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure at the $L_{2,3}$ edges of Fe, Co, and As. The present data provide direct spectroscopic evidence for an effectively isovalent substitution of Fe$^{2+}$ by Co$^{2+}$, which is in contrast to the widely assumed Co-induced electron-doping effect. Moreover, the data reveal that not only does the Fe valency remain completely unaffected across the entire doping range, but so do the Co and As valen…
The evolution of 75As NMR parameters with composition and temperature was probed in the Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 system where Fe is replaced by isovalent Ru. While the Ru-end member was found to be a conventional Fermi liquid, the composition (x=0.5) corresponding to the highest Tc (20K) in this system shows an upturn in 75As 1/T1T below about 80 K evidencing the presence of antiferromagnetic (AFM) fluctuations. These results are similar to those obtained in another system with isovalent substitution BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 [Y. Nakai, T. Iye, S. Kitagawa, K. Ishida, H. Ikeda, S. Kasahara, H. Shishido, T. Shib…
We present the ultra-low-temperature heat transport study of iron-based superconductors Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Ru$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ and BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$. For optimally doped Ba(Fe$_{0.64}$Ru$_{0.36}$)$_2$As$_2$, a large residual linear term $κ_0/T$ at zero field and a $\sqrt{H}$ dependence of $κ_0(H)/T$ are observed, which provide strong evidences for nodes in the superconducting gap. This result demonstrates that the isovalent Ru doping can also induce nodal superconductivity, as P does in BaFe$_2$(As$_{0.67}$P$_{0.33}$)$_2$. Furthermore, in underdoped Ba(Fe$_{0.77}$Ru$_{0.23}$)$_2$As$_2$ and…
We report on 31P-NMR studies of LaFe(As_{1-x}P_x)(O_{1-y}F_{y}) over wide compositions for 0<x<1 and 0<y<0.14, which provide clear evidence that antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations (AFMSFs) are one of the indispensable elements for enhancing Tc. Systematic 31P-NMR measurements revealed two types of AFMSFs in the temperature evolution, that is, one is the AFMSFs that develop rapidly down to Tc with low-energy characteristics, and the other, with relatively higher energy than the former, develops gradually upon cooling from high temperature. The low-energy AFMSFs in low y (electron doping) over …
The effects of isovalent Ru substitution at the Fe sites of BaFe2-xRuxAs2 are investigated by measuring resistivity and Hall coefficient on high-quality single crystals in a wide range of doping (0 < x < 1.4). Ru substitution weakens the antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, inducing superconductivity for relatively high doping level of 0.4 < x < 0.9. Near the AFM phase boundary, the transport properties show non-Fermi-liquid-like behaviors with a linear-temperature dependence of resistivity and a strong temperature dependence of Hall coefficient with a sign change. Upon higher doping, however, both …
We probe the real space electronic response to a local magnetic impurity in isovalent and heterovalent doped BaFe2As2 (122) using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The local moments carried by Mn impurities doped into Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2(Co-122) and BaFe(As1-xPx)2(P-122) at optimal doping induce a spin polarization in the vicinity of the impurity. The amplitude, shape and extension of this polarisation is given by the real part of the susceptibility chi'(r) of FeAs layers, and is consequently related to the nature and strength of the electronic correlations present in the system. We study this po…
We present a detailed investigation of Ba(Fe0.65Ru0.35)2As2 by transport measurements and Angle Resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We observe that Fe and Ru orbitals hybridize to form a coherent electronic structure and that Ru does not induce doping. The number of holes and electrons, deduced from the area of the Fermi Surface pockets, are both about twice larger than in BaFe2As2. The contribution of both carriers to the transport is evidenced by a change of sign of the Hall coefficient with decreasing temperature. Fermi velocities increase significantly with respect to BaFe2As2, suggesting…
High-resolution thermal-expansion and specific-heat measurements were performed on single crystalline BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 (0 < x < 0.33, x = 1). The observation of clear anomalies allows to establish the thermodynamic phase diagram which features a small coexistence region of SDW and superconductivity with a steep rise of Tc on the underdoped side. Samples that undergo the tetragonal-orthorhombic structural transition are detwinned in situ, and the response of the sample length to the magneto-structural and superconducting transitions is studied for all three crystallographic directions. It is sho…
The isovalently doped high-$T_{\text{c}}$ superconductor BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ is characterized by a rich temperature-doping phase diagram, which includes structural, antiferromagnetic, and superconducting phase transitions. In this work, we use photomodulated reflectance at 1.5 eV to detect the onset of linear birefringence in the normal state, and by inference, the breaking of four-fold rotational (C$_4$) symmetry. We find that C$_4$ breaking takes place in the normal state over a range of $x$ that spans the optimal P concentration, unlike the line of orthorhombic-tetragonal and magn…
Fermiology of various 122 systems are studied through first principles simulation. Electron doping causes expansion of electron and shrinkage of hole Fermi pockets. Isovalent Ru substitution (upto 35%) makes no visible modification in the electron and hole like FSs providing no clue regarding the nature of charge carrier doping. However, in case of 32% P doping there are considerable changes in the hole Fermi surfaces (FSs). From our calculations, it is very clear that two dimensionality of FSs may favour electron pair scattering between quasi-nested FSs which has important bearings in various…
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…
In this paper, nominal compositions of NdFeAsO0.8F0.2, NdFeAs0.95Sb0.05O0.8F0.2 and NdFeAs0.95P0.05O0.8F0.2 were prepared by one step solid state reaction method. The structural, electrical and morphological properties of samples were characterized through the XRD pattern, the 4 probe method and SEM, respectively. The crystal structure of our samples was tetragonal with P4/nmm:2 symmetry group. Also, the (x, y, z) and occupancy of ions and lattice parameters were changed by isovalent substitution of Phosphorus P and Antimony Sb in the NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 sample. The alfa and beta bond angles and Fe…
The effects of isovalent doping on the superconducting transition temperature Tc in novel 112-type iron arsenide Ca1-xLaxFeAs2 were studied by conducting measurements of electrical resistivity rho and magnetization M. P or Sb doping strongly enhances Tc: P-doped Ca0.84La0.16FeAs2 and Sb-doped Ca0.85La0.15FeAs2 exhibited Tc of 41 and 43 K, respectively, while Ca0.85La0.15FeAs2 without P/Sb exhibited Tc = 35 K. These observations will give a hint for further enhancing Tc of rare-earth doped Ca-Fe-As systems.
The novel 4d perovskite compound SrRhO3 was investigated by isovalent doping studies. The solubility limits of Ca and Ba onto Sr-site were below 80% and 20%, respectively. Although SrRhO3 was chemically compressed, approximately 5.7% by the Ca doping, no significant influence was observed on the magnetic and electrical properties.
We present an ab-initio study of Ru substitution in two different compounds, BaFe2As2 and LaFeAsO, pure and F-doped. Despite the many similarities among them, Ru substitution has very different effects on these compounds. By means of an unfolding technique, which allows us to trace back the electronic states into the primitive cell of the pure compounds, we are able to disentangle the effects brought by the local structural deformations and by the impurity potential to the states at the Fermi level. Our results are compared with available experiments and show: i) satisfying agreement of the ca…
We study the isovalent substitution effect by partially introducing Se on S site in the newly discovered superconductor Nb$_2$PdS$_5$ ($T_c\sim$6 K) whose upper critical field is found to be far above its Pauli paramagnetic limit. In this Nb$_2$Pd(S$_{1-x}$Se$_x$)$_5$ (0$\leq$$x$$\leq$0.8) system, superconductivity is systematically suppressed by the Se concentration and ultimately disappears when $x\geq$ 0.5, after which a semiconducting-like ground state emerges. In spite of the considerably reduced $T_c$ with Se doping, the ratio of the upper critical field $H_{c2}$ to $T_c$, remains unaffe…
We carried out a comparative study of the in-plane resistivity and optical spectrum of doped BaFe2As2 and investigated the doping evolution of the charge dynamics. For BaFe2As2, charge dynamics is incoherent at high temperatures. Electron (Co) and isovalent (P) doping into BaFe2As2 increase coherence of the system and transform the incoherent charge dynamics into highly coherent one. On the other hand, charge dynamics remains incoherent for hole (K) doping. It is found in common with any type of doping that superconductivity with high transition temperature emerges when the normal-state charge…
Superconductivity (SC) in the Ba-122 family of iron-based compounds can be controlled by aliovalent or isovalent substitutions, applied external pressure, and strain, the combined effects of which are sometimes studied within the same sample. Most often, the result is limited to a shift of the SC dome to different doping values. In a few cases, the maximum SC transition at optimal doping can also be enhanced. In this work, we study the combination of charge doping together with isovalent P substitution and strain by performing ionic gating experiments on BaFe$_2$(As$_{0.8}$P$_{0.2}$)$_2$ ultra…
In order to establish the doping dependence of the critical current properties in the iron-based superconductors, the in-plane critical current density (Jc) of BaFe2As2-based superconductors, Ba1-xKxFe2As2 (K-Ba122), Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 (Co-Ba122), and BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 (P-Ba122) in a wide range of doping concentration (x) was investigated by means of magnetization hysteresis loop (MHL) measurements on single-crystal samples. Depending on the dopant elements and their concentration, Jc exhibits a variety of magnetic-field (H) and temperature (T) dependences. (1) In the case of K-Ba122, MHL of the u…
Recent measurements of the doping dependence of the London penetration depth λ(x) at low temperatures in clean samples of isovalent BaFe_2[As_(1-x)P_x]_2 at T<<Tc [Hashimoto et al., Science 336, 1554 (2012)] revealed a peak in λ(x) near optimal doping x=0.3. The observation of the peak at T<<Tc, points to the existence of the quantum critical point (QCP) beneath the superconducting dome. We associate such a QCP with the onset of a spin- density-wave order and show that the renormalization of λ(x) by critical magnetic fluctuations, gives rise to the observed feature. We argue that the case of p…
We report a systematic study of electron doping of Sr2RuO4 by non-isovalent substitution of La^(3+) for Sr^(2+). Using a combination of de Haas-van Alphen oscillations, specific heat, and resistivity measurements, we show that electron doping leads to a rigid-band shift of the Fermi level corresponding to one doped electron per La ion, with constant many-body quasiparticle mass enhancement over the band mass. The susceptibility spectrum is substantially altered and enhanced by the doping but this has surprisingly little effect on the strength of the unconventional superconducting pairing.
PrOFe0.9Co0.1As is known to be a superconductor with a TC of ~14 K. In an attempt to induce charge transfer and also induce chemical pressure between the FeAs and PrO layers we have synthesized for the first time oxypnictides of the type PrOFe0.9Co0.1As1-xPx (P doping at As sites). All the compounds crystallize in the tetragonal ZrCuSiAs type structure (space group = P4/nmm). The lattice parameters (a and c) decrease as expected on substitution of smaller phosphorous at the arsenic site in PrOFe0.9Co0.1As and a decrease in TC was observed on substitution of P ions at a low rate of 0.13K/at. % …
Large high-quality single crystals of hole-doped iron-based superconductor (Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$)Fe$_2$As$_2$ were grown over a broad composition range $0.22 \leq x \leq 1$ by inverted temperature gradient method. We found that high soaking temperature, fast cooling rate, and adjusted temperature window of the growth are necessary to obtain single crystals of heavily K doped crystals (0.65$\leq x \leq$ 0.92) with narrow compositional distributions as revealed by sharp superconducting transitions in magnetization measurements and close to 100% superconducting volume fraction. The crystals were exten…
The electronic and magnetic properties of the new hydride superconductor CaFeAsH, which superconducts up to 47 K when electron-doped with La, and the isovalent alloy system CaFeAsH$_{1-x}$F$_x$ are investigated using density functional based methods. The $\vec Q = (π,π,0)$ peak of the nesting function $ξ(\vec q)$ is found to be extremely strong and sharp, and additional structure in $ξ(\vec q)$ associated with the near-circular Fermi surfaces (FSs) that may impact low energy excitations is quantified. The unusual band introduced by H, which shows strong dispersion perpendicular to the FeAs lay…
We report the discovery of a new diluted magnetic semiconductor, Li(Zn,Mn)P, in which charge and spin are introduced independently via lithium off-stoichiometry and the isovalent substitution of Mn2+ for Zn2+, respectively. Isostructural to (Ga,Mn)As, Li(Zn,Mn)P was found to be a p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor with excess Lithium providing charge doping. First principles calculations indicate that excess Li is favored to partially occupy the Zn site, leading to hole doping. Ferromagnetism is mediated in semiconducting samples of relative low mobile carriers with a small coercive force, ind…
We report the realization of superconductivity by an isovalent doping with phosphorus in LaFeAsO. X-ray diffraction shows that, with the partial substitution of P for As, the Fe$_2$As$_2$ layers are squeezed while the La$_2$O$_2$ layers are stretched along the c-axis. Electrical resistance and magnetization measurements show emergence of bulk superconductivity at $\sim$10 K for the optimally-doped LaFeAs$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$O ($x=0.25\sim0.3$). The upper critical fields at zero temperature is estimated to be 27 T, much higher than that of the LaFePO superconductor. The occurrence of superconductivit…
The diversities in crystal structures and ways of doping result in extremely diversified phase diagrams for iron-based superconductors. With angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we have systematically studied the effects of chemical substitution on the electronic structure of various series of iron-based superconductors. In addition to the control of Fermi surface topology by heterovalent doping, we found two more extraordinary effects of doping: 1. the site and band dependencies of quasiparticle scattering; and more importantly 2. the ubiquitous and significant bandwidth-control…
The 122$^{*}$ series of iron-chalcogenide superconductors, for example K$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$, only possesses electron Fermi pockets. Their distinctive electronic structure challenges the picture built upon iron pnictide superconductors, where both electron and hole Fermi pockets coexist. However, partly due to the intrinsic phase separation in this family of compounds, many aspects of their behavior remain elusive. In particular, the evolution of the 122$^{*}$ series of iron-chalcogenides with chemical substitution still lacks a microscopic and unified interpretation. Using angle-resolved ph…
The effect of selenium substitution by sulfur or tellurium in the Tl1-yFe2-zSe2 antiferromagnet was studied by x-ray and electron diffraction, magnetization and transport measurements. Tl0.8Fe1.5(Se1-xXx)2 (nominal composition) solid solutions were synthesized in the full x range (0<x<1) for X=S and up to x=0.5 for X=Te, using the sealed tube technique. No superconductivity was found down to 4.2K in the case of sulfur despite the fact that the optimal crystallographic parameters, determined by Rietveld refinements, are reached in the series (i.e. the Fe-(Se,S) interplane height and (Se,S)-Fe-(…
We report bulk superconductivity induced by an isovalent doping of phosphorus in BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$. The P-for-As substitution results in shrinkage of lattice, especially for the FeAs block layers. The resistivity anomaly associated with the spin-density-wave (SDW) transition in the undoped compound is gradually suppressed by the P doping. Superconductivity with the maximum $T_c$ of 30 K emerges at $x$=0.32, coinciding with a magnetic quantum critical point (QCP) which is evidenced by the disappearance of SDW order and the linear temperature-dependent resistivity in the normal…
We report on the combined experimental and theoretical analysis of the microwave-frequency electromagnetic response of BaFe2As2 single crystals with different substitutions: K in the Ba site (hole doping), Co in the Fe site (electron doping), and P in the As site (isovalent substitution). Measurements using a coplanar resonator technique lead to the experimental determination of the penetration depth and microwave conductivity as a function of temperature. The whole set of data is analyzed within a self-consistent three-band $s_{\pm}$-wave Eliashberg approach, able to account for all the main …
We have performed an isovalent substitution study in a layered titanium oxypnictide system BaTi$_{2}$(Sb$_{1-x}$Bi$_{x}$)$_{2}$O (0$\leq x\leq$ 0.40) by the measurements of x-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility. The parent compound BaTi$_{2}$Sb$_{2}$O is confirmed to exhibit superconductivity at 1.5 K as well as charge- or spin-density wave (CDW/SDW) ordering below 55 K. With the partial substitution of Sb by Bi, the lattice parameters $a$, $c$ and $c/a$ all increase monotonically, indicating negative chemical pressure and lattice distortion on the (super)conduc…
While unusual normal state properties, such as non-Fermi liquid behavior of the resistivity, are commonly associated with strong quantum fluctuations, evidence for its presence inside the superconducting dome are much scarcer. In this paper, we use sensitive and minimally invasive optical magnetometry based on NV-centers in diamond to probe the doping evolution of the $T=0$ penetration depth in the electron-doped iron-based superconductor Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$. A non-monotonic evolution with a pronounced peak in the vicinity of the putative magnetic QPT is found. This behavior is remi…