Detailed electronic structure studies on superconducting MgB2_2 and related compounds

In order to understand the unexpected superconducting behavior of MgB$_2$ compound we have made electronic structure calculations for MgB$_2$ and closely related systems. Our calculated Debye temperature from the elastic properties indicate that the average phonon frequency is very large in MgB$_2$ compared with other superconducting intermetallics and the exceptionally high $T_c$ in this material can be explained through BCS mechanism only if phonon softening occurs or the phonon modes are highly anisotropic. We identified a doubly-degenerate quasi-two dimensional key-energy band in the vicinity of $E_{F}$ along $\Gamma$-A direction of BZ which play an important role in deciding the superconducting behavior of this material. Based on this result, we have searched for similar kinds of electronic feature in a series of isoelectronic compounds such as BeB$_2$, CaB$_2$, SrB$_2$, LiBC and MgB$_2$C$_2$ and found that MgB$_2$C$_2$ is one potential material from the superconductivity point of view. There are contradictory experimental results regarding the anisotropy in the elastic properties of MgB$_2$ ranging from isotropic, moderately anisotropic to highly anisotropic. In order to settle this issue we have calculated the single crystal elastic constants for MgB$_2$ by the accurate full-potential method and derived the directional dependent linear compressibility, Young's modulus, shear modulus and relevant elastic properties. We have observed large anisotropy in the elastic properties. Our calculated polarized optical dielectric tensor shows highly anisotropic behavior even though it possesses isotropic transport property. MgB$_2$ possesses a mixed bonding character and this has been verified from density of states, charge density and crystal orbital Hamiltonian population analyses

Competing magnetic structures and magnetic transitions in Er2Ni2Pb Powder neutron diffraction measurements

We have studied the magnetic structures of Er2Ni2Pb using a powder neutron diffraction technique in zero field. Previous bulk measurements suggested three distinct magnetic phase transitions. Our neutron diffraction experiments, which were made in the range 1.5 5 K, showed that magnetic Bragg reflections in Er2Ni2Pb can be indexed by several propagation vectors that coexist over an extensive temperature range. Rather than a homogeneous magnetic structure that is simultaneously described by all the existing propagation vectors, several spatially separated structures appear to exist in Er2Ni2Pb. The appearance disappearance of representative reflections at TN 3.5 K, Tm1 3.0 K, Tm2 2.3 K, and Tm3 1.8 K denote magnetic phase transitions. The only magnetic state that is determined by a single propagation vector exists just below TN. In all other magnetic states, more than one propagation vectors are stable. Except for the lowest temperature state, which is commensurate, all other propagation vectors are incommensurate with respect to the crystal structure. Although the coexistence of several spatially separated magnetic structures can be explained by the competition of magnetic interactions along particular crystallographic directions, some of the details, e.g., the exact ground state magnetic structure, are still unclear and need further stud