Mechanism of hopping transport in disordered Mott insulators

By using a combination of detailed experimental studies and simple theoretical arguments, we identify a novel mechanism characterizing the hopping transport in the Mott insulating phase of Ca$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$RuO$_4$ near the metal-insulator transition. The hopping exponent $\alpha$ shows a systematic evolution from a value of $\alpha=1/2$ deeper in the insulator to the conventional Mott value $\alpha=1/3$ closer to the transition. This behavior, which we argue to be a universal feature of disordered Mott systems close to the metal-insulator transition, is shown to reflect the gradual emergence of disorder-induced localized electronic states populating the Mott-Hubbard gap.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, To be published in Physical Review Letter

Upper Critical Field of the 3 Kelvin Phase in Sr2RuO4

The inhomogeneous 3 Kelvin phase is most likely a superconducting state nucleating at the interface between micrometer-sized Ru-metal inclusions and Sr2RuO4 above the bulk onset of superconductivity. This filamentary superconducting state yields a characteristic temperature dependence of the upper critical field which is sublinear, i.e., H_{c2} (T) \propto (T^* - T)^{\gamma} with 0.5 \leq \gamma < 1 (T^*: nucleation temperature). The Ginzburg-Landau theory is used to analyze the behavior of the nucleated spin-triplet phase in a field and the characteristic features of H_{c2} observed in the experiment are explained based on a two-component order parameter in the presence of a filament of enhanced superconductivity with a finite width.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Cyclotron Resonance in the Layered Perovskite Superconductor Sr2RuO4

We have measured the cyclotron masses in Sr2RuO4 through the observation of periodic-orbit-resonances - a magnetic resonance technique closely related to cyclotron resonance. We obtain values for the alpha, beta and gamma Fermi surfaces of (4.33+/-0.05)me, (5.81+/-0.03)me and (9.71+/-0.11)me respectively. The appreciable differences between these results and those obtained from de Haas- van Alphen measurements are attributable to strong electron-electron interactions in this system. Our findings appear to be consistent with predictions for a strongly interacting Fermi liquid; indeed, semi-quantitative agreement is obtained for the electron pockets beta and gamma.Comment: 4 pages + 3 figure

Effects of In-Plane Impurity Substitution in Sr2RuO4

We report comparative substitution effects of nonmagnetic Ti^(4+) and magnetic Ir^(4+) impurities for Ru^(4+) in the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4. We found that both impurities suppress the superconductivity completely at a concentration of approximately 0.15%, reflecting the high sensitivity to translational symmetry breaking in Sr2RuO4. In addition, a rapid enhancement of residual resistivity is in quantitative agreement with unitarity-limit scattering. Our result suggests that both nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities in Sr2RuO4 act as strong potential scatterers, similar to the nonmagnetic Zn^(2+) impurity in the high-Tc cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. submitted to Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Metamagnetic Transition in Na0.85_{0.85}CoO2_2 Single Crystals

We report the magnetization, specific heat and transport measurements of high quality Na$_{0.85}$CoO$_2$ single crystals in applied magnetic fields up to 14T. In high temperatures, the system is in a paramagnetic phase. It undergoes a magnetic phase transition below about 20K. When the field is applied along the c-axis, the measurement data of magnetization, specific heat and magnetoresistance reveal a metamagnetic transition from an antiferromagnetic state to a quasi-ferromagnetic state at about 8T in low temperatures. However, no transition is observed in the magnetization measurements up to 14T when the field is applied perpendicular to the c-axis. The low temperature magnetic phase diagram of Na$_{0.85}$CoO$_2$ is determined.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The ground state of Sr3Ru2O7 revisited; Fermi liquid close to a ferromagnetic instability

We show that single-crystalline Sr3Ru2O7 grown by a floating-zone technique is an isotropic paramagnet and a quasi-two dimensional metal as spin-triplet superconducting Sr2RuO4 is. The ground state is Fermi liquid with very low residual resistivity (3 micro ohm cm for in-plane currents) and a nearly ferromagnetic metal with the largest Wilson ratio Rw>10 among paramagnets so far. This contrasts with the ferromagnetic order at Tc=104 K reported on single crystals grown by a flux method [Cao et al., Phys. Rev. B 55, R672 (1997)]. We have also found a dramatic changeover from paramagnetism to ferromagnetism under applied pressure. This suggests the existence of a substantial ferromagnetic instability on the verge of a quantum phase transition in the Fermi liquid state.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B : Rapid co

Robust paramagnetism in Bi2-xMxRu2O7 (M=Mn,Fe,Co,Ni,Cu) pyrochlore

We report physical property characterization of Bi2-xMxRu2O7 pyrochlores, including magnetic suseptibility, resistivity, and Seebeck coefficients. The solid solution exists up to x=0.5 for (M=Cu,Ni,Co) and up to x=0.1 for (M=Fe,Mn). None of the doped materials exhibit ferromagnetism or any localized ruthenium moment behavior. Instead we find the Ru-O and Bi-O sublattices to be essentially independent, with any magnetism resulting from the unpaired transition metal dopant spins. Cobalt substitution for bismuth results in localized Co{2+}, and low temperature spin-glass transitions in several cases. Nickel moments on the pyrochlore lattice display properties intermediate to localized and itinerant. Finally, copper doping results in only an enhancement of the Pauli metallic density of states.Comment: submitted, Phys. Rev.

Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4-Sr3Ru2O7 eutectic crystals

Superconducting behavior has been observed in the Sr2RuO4-Sr3Ru2O7 eutectic system as grown by the flux-feeding floating zone technique. A supercurrent flows across a single interface between Sr2RuO4 and Sr3Ru2O7 areas at distances that are far beyond those expected in a conventional proximity scenario. The current-voltage characteristics within the Sr3Ru2O7 macrodomain, as extracted from the eutectic, exhibit signatures of superconductivity in the bilayered ruthenate. Detailed microstructural, morphological and compositional analyses address issues on the concentration and the size of Sr2RuO4 inclusions within the Sr3Ru2O7 matrix. We speculate on the possibility of inhomogeneous superconductivity in the eutectic Sr3Ru2O7 and exotic pairing induced by the Sr2RuO4 inclusions.Comment: Pages 4, figures 3, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Fourth Order Perturbation Theory for Normal Selfenergy in Repulsive Hubbard Model

We investigate the normal selfenergy and the mass enhancement factor in the Hubbard model on the two-dimensional square lattice. Our purpose in this paper is to evaluate the mass enhancement factor more quantitatively than the conventional third order perturbation theory. We calculate it by expanding perturbatively up to the fourth order with respect to the on-site repulsion $U$. We consider the cases that the system is near the half-filling, which are similar situations to high-$T_c$ cuprates. As results of the calculations, we obtain the large mass enhancement on the Fermi surface by introducing the fourth order terms. This is mainly originated from the fourth order particle-hole and particle-particle diagrams. Although the other fourth order terms have effect of reducing the effective mass, this effect does not cancel out the former mass enhancement completely and there remains still a large mass enhancement effect. In addition, we find that the mass enhancement factor becomes large with increasing the on-site repulsion $U$ and the density of state (DOS) at the Fermi energy $\rho(0)$. According to many current reseaches, such large $U$ and $\rho(0)$ enhance the effective interaction between quasiparticles, therefore the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ increases. On the other hand, the large mass enhancement leads the reduction of the energy scale of quasiparticles, as a result, $T_c$ is reduced. When we discuss $T_c$, we have to estimate these two competitive effects.Comment: 6pages,8figure

Tunneling properties at the interface between superconducting Sr2RuO4 and a Ru micro-inclusion

We have investigated the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the tunneling spectra of the eutectic system Sr2RuO4-Ru. Electric contacts to individual Ru lamellae embedded in Sr2RuO4 enable the tunneling spectra at the interface between ruthenate and a Ru microinclusion to be measured. A zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) was observed in the bias voltage dependence of the differential conductance, suggesting that Andreev bound states are present at the interface. The ZBCP starts to appear at a temperature well below the superconducting transition temperature. The onset magnetic field of the ZBCP is also considerably smaller than the upper critical field when the magnetic field is parallel to the ab-plane. We propose that the difference between the onset of the ZBCP and the onset of superconductivity can be understood in terms of the existence of the single-component state predicted by Sigrist and Monien.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. vol. 74 no.