de Haas-van Alphen effect investigations of the electronic structure of pure and aluminum-doped MgB_2

Understanding the superconducting properties of MgB_2 is based strongly on knowledge of its electronic structure. In this paper we review experimental measurements of the Fermi surface parameters of pure and Al-doped MgB_2 using the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect. In general, the measurements are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions of the electronic structure, including the strength of the electron-phonon coupling on each Fermi surface sheet. For the Al doped samples, we are able to measure how the band structure changes with doping and again these are in excellent agreement with calculations based on the virtual crystal approximation. We also review work on the dHvA effect in the superconducting state.Comment: Contribution to the special issue of Physica C "Superconductivity in MgB2: Physics and Applications" (10 Pages with figures

Advances in single crystal growth and annealing treatment of electron-doped HTSC

High quality electron-doped HTSC single crystals of $\rm Pr_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ and $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ have been successfully grown by the container-free traveling solvent floating zone technique. The optimally doped $\rm Pr_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ and $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ crystals have transition temperatures $T_{\rm c}$ of $25$\,K and $23.5$\,K, respectively, with a transition width of less than $1$\,K. We found a strong dependence of the optimal growth parameters on the Ce content $x$. We discuss the optimization of the post-growth annealing treatment of the samples, the doping extension of the superconducting dome for both compounds as well as the role of excess oxygen. The absolute oxygen content of the as-grown crystals is determined from thermogravimetric experiments and is found to be $\ge 4.0$. This oxygen surplus is nearly completely removed by a post-growth annealing treatment. The reduction process is reversible as demonstrated by magnetization measurements. In as-grown samples the excess oxygen resides on the apical site O(3). This apical oxygen has nearly no doping effect, but rather influences the evolution of superconductivity by inducing additional disorder in the CuO$_{2}$ layers. The very high crystal quality of $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ is particularly manifest in magnetic quantum oscillations observed on several samples at different doping levels. They provide a unique opportunity of studying the Fermi surface and its dependence on the carrier concentration in the bulk of the crystals.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Extreme Electron-Phonon Coupling in Boron-based Layered Superconductors

The phonon-mode decomposition of the electron-phonon coupling in the MgB2-like system Li_{1-x}BC is explored using first principles calculations. It is found that the high temperature superconductivity of such systems results from extremely strong coupling to only ~2% of the phonon modes. Novel characteristics of E_2g branches include (1) ``mode lambda'' values of 25 and greater compared to a mean of $\sim 0.4$ for other modes, (2) a precipitous Kohn anomaly, and (3) E_2g phonon linewidths within a factor of ~2 of the frequency itself, indicating impending breakdown of linear electron-phonon theory. This behavior in borne out by recent inelastic x-ray scattering studies of MgB2 by Shukla et al.Comment: 4 two-column pages, 4 figures. Equations simplified. Figure 4 changed. Comparison with new data include

Fermi Surfaces of Diborides: MgB2 and ZrB2

We provide a comparison of accurate full potential band calculations of the Fermi surfaces areas and masses of MgB2 and ZrB2 with the de Haas-van Alphen date of Yelland et al. and Tanaka et al., respectively. The discrepancies in areas in MgB2 can be removed by a shift of sigma-bands downward with respect to pi-bands by 0.24 eV. Comparison of effective masses lead to orbit averaged electron-phonon coupling constants lambda(sigma)=1.3 (both orbits), lambda(pi)=0.5. The required band shifts, which we interpret as an exchange attraction for sigma states beyond local density band theory, reduces the number of holes from 0.15 to 0.11 holes per cell. This makes the occurrence of superconductivity in MgB2 a somewhat closer call than previously recognized, and increases the likelihood that additional holes can lead to an increased Tc.Comment: 7 pages including 4 figure

A Theory for the High-T_c Cuprates: Anomalous Normal-State and Spectroscopic Properties, Phase Diagram, and Pairing

A theory of highly correlated layered superconducting materials isapplied for the cuprates. Differently from an independent-electron approximation, their low-energy excitations are approached in terms of auxiliary particles representing combinations of atomic-like electron configurations, where the introduction of a Lagrange Bose field enables treating them as bosons or fermions. The energy spectrum of this field accounts for the tendency of hole-doped cuprates to form stripe-like inhomogeneities. Consequently, it induces a different analytical behavior for auxiliary particles corresponding to "antinodal" and "nodal" electrons, enabling the existence of different pairing temperatures at T^* and T_c. This theory correctly describes the observed phase diagram of the cuprates, including the non-Fermi-liquid to FL crossover in the normal state, the existence of Fermi arcs below T^* and of a "marginal-FL" critical behavior above it. The qualitative anomalous behavior of numerous physical quantities is accounted for, including kink- and waterfall-like spectral features, the drop in the scattering rates below T^* and more radically below T_c, and an effective increase in the density of carriers with T and \omega, reflected in transport, optical and other properties. Also is explained the correspondence between T_c, the resonance-mode energy, and the "nodal gap".Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Spin dynamics in Sr3 Ru2 O7 near the metamagnetic transition by inelastic neutron scattering

The bilayered ruthenate Sr3 Ru2 O7 has a metamagnetic quantum critical point. This is the first example of a material with a quantum-critical end-point. This work addresses the problem of the metamagnetic criticality in this system through the measurement of spin fluctuations by inelastic neutron scattering. Our results show that incommensurate antiferromagnetic fluctuations are present in a wide range of applied fields. We have also observed how ferromagnetic fluctuations develop at the metamagnetic field. Finally, the intensity of the two types of fluctuations is followed as a function of the energy transfer between the neutron and the spins. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved