100 research outputs found
Critical current anisotropy in Nd-1111 single crystals and the infuence of neutron irradiation
We report on angle-resolved magnetization measurements on
NdFeAsOF (Nd-1111) single crystals. The field dependence of
the critical current density, , is non-monotonous in these crystals at all
orientations and temperatures due to the fishtail effect, which strongly
influences the angular dependence of . The currents decrease as the field
is tilted from the crystallographic c-axis at low fields, but increase at high
fields. A peak occurs in the angular dependence of at intermediate
fields. The critical currents are significantly enhanced after irradiation with
fast neutrons and the fishtail disappears. The different current anisotropies
at low and high fields, however, persist. We discuss the data in the framework
of the anisotropic scaling approach and propose a transition from dominant
pinning by large defects of low density at low fields to pinning by small
defects of high density at high fields in the pristine crystal. Strong pinning
dominates at all fields after the irradiation, and the angular dependence of
can be described by anisotropic scaling only after an appropriate
extension to this pinning regime
L4Fe2As2Te1-xO4-yFy (L = Pr, Sm, Gd): a layered oxypnictide superconductor with Tc up to 45 K
The synthesis, structural and physical properties of iron lanthanide
oxypnictide superconductors, L4Fe2As2Te1-xO4 (L = Pr, Sm, Gd), with transition
temperature at ~ 25 K are reported. Single crystals have been grown at high
pressure using cubic anvil technique. The crystal structure consists of layers
of L2O2 tetrahedra separated by alternating layers of chains of Te and of
Fe2As2 tetrahedra: -L2O2-Te-L2O2-Fe2As2-L2O2-Te-L2O2- (space group: I4/mmm, a ~
4.0, c ~ 29.6 {\AA}). Substitution of oxygen by fluorine increases the critical
temperature, e.g. in Gd4Fe2As2Te1-xOyF4-y up to 45 K. Magnetic torque
measurements reveal an anisotropy of the penetration depths of ~31.Comment: 8 figures, 4 table
Magnetotransport studies of Superconducting PrFeAsTeO
We report a detailed study of the electrical transport properties of single
crystals of PrFeAsTeO, a recently discovered iron-based
superconductor. Resistivity, Hall effect and magnetoresistance are measured in
a broad temperature range revealing the role of electrons as dominant charge
carriers. The significant temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient and
the violation of Kohler's law indicate multiband effects in this compound. The
upper critical field and the magnetic anisotropy are investigated in fields up
to 16 T, applied parallel and perpendicular to the crystallographic c-axis.
Hydrostatic pressure up to 2 GPa linearly increases the critical temperature
and the resistivity residual ratio. A simple two-band model is used to describe
the transport and magnetic properties of PrFeAsTeO. The
model can successfully explain the strongly temperature dependent negative Hall
coefficient and the high magnetic anisotropy assuming that the mobility of
electrons is higher than that of holes
MgB2 single crystals substituted with Li and with Li-C: Structural and superconducting properties
The effect of Li substitution for Mg and of Li-C co-substitution on the
superconducting properties and crystal structure of MgB2 single crystals has
been investigated. It has been found that hole doping with Li decreases the
superconducting transition temperature Tc, but at a slower rate than electron
doping with C or Al. Tc of MgB2 crystals with simultaneously substituted Li for
Mg and C for B decreases more than in the case where C is substituted alone.
This means that holes introduced by Li cannot counterbalance the effect of
decrease of Tc caused by introduction of electrons coming from C. The possible
reason of it can be that holes coming from Li occupy the pi band while
electrons coming from C fill the sigma band. The temperature dependences of the
upper critical field Hc2 for Al and Li substituted crystals with the same Tc
show a similar dHc2/dT slope at Tc and a similar Hc2(T) behavior, despite of
much different substitution level. This indicates that the mechanism
controlling Hc2 and Tc is similar in both hole and electron doped crystals.
Electrical transport measurements show an increase of resistivity both in Li
substituted crystals and in Li and C co-substituted crystals. This indicates
enhanced scattering due to defects introduced by substitutions including
distortion of the lattice. The observed behavior can be explained as a result
of two effects, influencing both Tc and Hc2. The first one is doping related to
the changes in the carrier concentration, which may lead to the decrease or to
the increase of Tc. The second one is related to the introduction of new
scattering centers leading to the modification of the interband and/or
intraband scattering and therefore, to changes in the superconducting gaps and
to the reduction of Tc.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, submitted to PR
Local quasiparticle density of states of superconducting SmFeAsOF single crystals: Evidence for spin-mediated pairing
We probe the local quasiparticles density-of-states in micron-sized
SmFeAsOF single-crystals by means of Scanning Tunnelling
Spectroscopy. Spectral features resemble those of cuprates, particularly a
dip-hump-like structure developed at energies larger than the gap that can be
ascribed to the coupling of quasiparticles to a collective mode, quite likely a
resonant spin mode. The energy of the collective mode revealed in our study
decreases when the pairing strength increases. Our findings support
spin-fluctuation-mediated pairing in pnictides.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Physicochemical materials research: Phase relations in the Al-Ir-Os system in the range up to 70 at.% Al
For alloys in the range Os-OsAl2-IrAl2.7-Ir, as-cast and annealed at 1400 °C (Os-OsAl-IrAl-Ir) and 1250°C (OsAl-OsAl2-IrAl2.7-IrAl), phase equilibria are studied by powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Between isostructural aluminides OsAl and IrAl there exists a continuous solid solution (Os,Ir)Al. Other unary and binary phases form terminal solid solutions: (Os), (Ir), (OsAl2), and (IrAl2.7
Multi-band superconductivity in LaFeAsO_{0.9}F_{0.1} single crystals probed by high-field vortex torque magnetometry
To probe manifestations of multiband superconductivity in oxypnictides, we
measured the angular dependence of the magnetic torque in the
mixed state of LaOFFeAs single crystals as a function of
temperature and magnetic fields up to 18 T. The paramagnetic
contribution of the Fe ions is properly treated in order to extract the
effective mass anisotropy parameter from
. We show that depends strongly on both and ,
reaching a maximum value of 10 followed by a decrease towards values
close to 1 as is lowered. The observed field dependencies of the London
penetration depth and suggest the onset of suppression
of a superconducing gap at .Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Single crystal of superconducting SmFeAsO1-xFy grown at high pressure
Single crystals of SmFeAsO1-xFy of a size up to 120 micrometers have been
grown from NaCl/KCl flux at a pressure of 30 kbar and temperature of 1350-1450
C using the cubic anvil high-pressure technique. The superconducting transition
temperature of the obtained single crystals varies between 45 and 53 K.Obtained
crystals are characterized by a full diamagnetic response in low magnetic
fields and by a high critical current density in high magnetic fields.
Structural refinement has been performed on single crystal. Differential
thermal analysis investigations at 1 bar Ar pressure show decomposition of
SmFeAsO1-xFy at 1302 C.Comment: 12 pages, 3 tables, 6 figure
Slow magnetic fluctuations and superconductivity in fluorine-doped NdFeAsO
Among the widely studied superconducting iron-pnictide compounds belonging to
the Ln1111 family (with Ln a lanthanide), a systematic investigation of the
crossover region between the superconducting and the antiferromagnetic phase
for the Ln = Nd case has been missing. We fill this gap by focusing on the
intermediate doping regime of NdFeAsO(1-x)F(x) by means of dc-magnetometry and
muon-spin spectroscopy measurements. The long-range order we detect at low
fluorine doping is replaced by short-range magnetic interactions at x = 0.08,
where also superconductivity appears. In this case, longitudinal-field
muon-spin spectroscopy experiments show clear evidence of slow magnetic
fluctuations that disappear at low temperatures. This fluctuating component is
ascribed to the glassy-like character of the magnetically ordered phase of
NdFeAsO at intermediate fluorine doping
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