20 research outputs found
On the possibility of superconductivity in PrBa2Cu3O7
Recent reports about observations of superconductivity in PrBa2Cu3O7 raise a
number of questions: (i) of various theories striving to explain the Tc
suppression in PrxY{1-x}Ba2Cu3O7, are there any compatible with possible
superconductivity in stoichiometric PrBa2Cu3O7? (ii) if this superconductivity
is not an experimental artifact, are the superconducting carriers (holes) of
the same character as in the other high-Tc cuprates, or do they represent
another electronic subsystem? (iii) is the underlying mechanism the same as in
other high-Tc superconductors? I present an answer to the first two questions,
while leaving the last one open.Comment: 4 pages 4 eps fig
Origin of the Superconductivity in the Y-Sr-Ru-O and Y-Sr-Cu-O Systems
We report on the structural, magnetic, and Raman-scattering studies of double
perovskite structure Sr2Y(Ru1-xCux)O6-d systems made by systematic synthesis
processes with various numbers of doping concentrations and sintering
temperatures. We observed different behaviors resulting from the different
thermal treatments. In particular, superconductivity in Cu-doped Sr2YRuO6 has
been observed only for partially melted ceramic materials. We show that
superconductivity is associated with the 1:2:3 phase (YSr2Cu3Ot), similar to
that of Y-Sr-Cu-O samples sintered at high temperature
Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Electron-doped Superconductor, Sm_{1.85}Ce_{0.15}CuO_{4-delta}
Temperature-dependent magnetization (M(T)) and specific heat (C_p(T))
measurements were carried out on single crystal Sm_{1.85}Ce_{0.15}CuO_{4-delta}
(T_c = 16.5 K). The magnetic anisotropy in the static susceptibility, chi
{equiv} M/H, is apparent not only in its magnitude but also in its temperature
dependence, with chi_{perp} for H{perp}c larger than chi_{parallel} for
H{parallel}c. For both field orientations, chi does not follow the Curie-Weiss
behavior due to the small energy gap of the J = 7/2 multiplet above the J = 5/2
ground-state multiplet. However, with increasing temperature, chi_{parallel}(T)
exhibits a broad minimum near 100 K and then a slow increase while
chi_{perp}(T) shows a monotonic decrease. A sharp peak in C_p(T) at 4.7 K
manifests an antiferromagnetic ordering. The electronic contribution, gamma, to
C_p(T) is estimated to be gamma = 103.2 (7) mJ/moleSmK^2. The entropy
associated with the magnetic ordering is much smaller than Rln2, where R is the
gas constant, which is usually expected for the doublet ground state of
Sm^{+3}. The unusual magnetic and electronic properties evident in M(T) and
C_p(T) are probably due to a strong anisotropic interaction between conduction
electrons and localized electrons at Sm^{+3} sites.Comment: 5 pages, 5 encapsulated postscript figures, late
Hole depletion and localization due to disorder in insulating PrBa2Cu3O7-d: a Compton scattering study
The (mostly) insulating behaviour of PrBa2Cu3O7-d is still unexplained and
even more interesting since the occasional appearance of superconductivity in
this material. Since YBa2Cu3O7-d is nominally iso-structural and always
superconducting, we have measured the electron momentum density in these
materials. We find that they differ in a striking way, the wavefunction
coherence length in PrBa2Cu3O7-d being strongly suppressed. We conclude that Pr
on Ba-site substitution disorder is responsible for the metal-insulator
transition. Preliminary efforts at growth with a method to prevent disorder
yield 90K superconducting PrBa2Cu3O7-d crystallites.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revised version submitted to PR
Coherent Potential Approximation for `d - wave' Superconductivity in Disordered Systems
A Coherent Potential Approximation is developed for s-wave and d-wave
superconductivity in disordered systems. We show that the CPA formalism
reproduces the standard pair-breaking formula, the self-consistent Born
Approximation and the self-consistent T-matrix approximation in the appropriate
limits. We implement the theory and compute T_c for s-wave and d-wave pairing
using an attractive nearest neighbor Hubbard model featuring both binary alloy
disorder and a uniform distribution of scattering site potentials. We determine
the density of states and examine its consequences for low temperature heat
capacity. We find that our results are in qualitative agreement with
measurements on Zn doped YBCO superconductors.Comment: 35 pages, 23 figures, submitted to Phys Rev.
Electrical anisotropy in high-Tc granular superconductors in a magnetic field
We propose an analytical model devoted to explain the anisotropy of the electrical resistance observed below the critical temperature in granular high-Tc superconductors submitted to a magnetic field H. Reported experimental results obtained on a YBCO sample show that the superconducting transition occurs in two stages, with a steep drop of the resistance at Tc and a subsequent, smoother decrease. In this second stage, the resistance versus temperature curve is strongly dependent not only on the field intensity, but also on the angle between H and the macroscopic current density j. We start from the assumption that the resistance below Tc is mainly due to the weak links between grains. In the model, weak links are thought of as flat surface elements separating adjacent grains. We calculate the probability for a weak link to undergo the transition to the resistive state as a function of the angle it makes with the external magnetic field H and the macroscopic current density j. In doing this, an important role is given to the strong nonuniformity of the local magnetic field within the specimen, due to the effect of the screening supercurrents flowing on the surface of the grains. Finally, we calculate the electrical resistance of the sample in the two cases H⊥j and H∥j. The predictions of this simple model turn out to be in reasonable agreement with reported experimental results obtained on a YBCO granular specimen
Quasi-One-Dimensional Topological-Excitation Liquid in Bi2212 from Tunneling Spectroscopy
Tunneling measurements have been carried out on heavily underdoped, slightly
overdoped and partially Ni-substituted Bi2212 single crystals by using a
break-junction technique. We find that in-plane tunneling spectra below Tc are
the combination of incoherent part from the pseudogap and coherent
quasiparticle peaks. There is a clear correlation between the magnitude of the
pseudogap and the magnitude of the superconducting gap in Bi2212. The analysis
of the data suggests that the tunneling pseudogap in Bi2212 is predominantly a
charge-density-wave gap on dynamical charge stripes. The tunneling
characteristics corresponding to the quasiparticle peaks are in excellent
agreement with theoretical predictions made for a quasi-one dimensional
topological-excitation liquid. In addition, the analysis of data measured by
different techniques shows that the phase coherence along the c-axis is
established at Tc due to spin fluctuations in local antiferromagnetic domains
of CuO2 planes.Comment: Supercond. Sci. Technol. (16 pages