5 research outputs found
Tetragonal to orthorhombic phase transition in SmFeAsO: a synchrotron powder diffraction investigation
The crystal structure of SmFeAsO has been investigated by means of Rietveld
refinement of high resolution synchrotron powder diffraction data collected at
300 K and 100 K. The compound crystallizes in the tetragonal P4/nmm space group
at 300 K and in the orthorhombic Cmma space group at 100 K; attempts to refine
the low temperature data in the monoclinic P112/n space group diverged. On the
basis of both resistive and magnetic analyses the tetragonal to orthorhombic
phase transition can be located at T about 140 K.Comment: Submitted to: Superconductor Science and Technology PACS: 61.05.cp,
61.66.Fn, 74.10.+v, 74.62.Dh, 74.70.D
Crystallographic Phase Transition and High-Tc Superconductivity in LaFeAsO:F
Undoped LaFeAsO, parent compound of the newly found high-Tc superconductor,
exhibits a sharp decrease in the temperature-dependent resistivity at ~160 K.
The anomaly can be suppressed by F doping and the superconductivity appears
correspondingly, suggesting a close associate of the anomaly with the
superconductivity. We examined the crystal structures, magnetic properties and
superconductivity of undoped (normal conductor) and 14 at.% F-doped LaFeAsO (Tc
= 20 K) by synchrotron X-ray diffraction, DC magnetic measurements, and ab
initio calculations to demonstrate that the anomaly is associated with a phase
transition from tetragonal (P4/nmm) to orthorhombic (Cmma) phases at ~160 K as
well as an antiferromagnetic transition at ~140 K. These transitions can be
explained by spin configuration-dependent potential energy surfaces derived
from the ab initio calculations. The suppression of the transitions is ascribed
to interrelated effects of geometric and electronic structural changes due to
doping by F- ions.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, Supplementary information is included
at the end of the document, accepted for publication in Supercond. Sci.
Techno
Feshbach resonances and mesoscopic phase separation near a quantum critical point in multiband FeAs-based superconductors
High Tc superconductivity in FeAs-based multilayers (pnictides), evading
temperature decoherence effects in a quantum condensate, is assigned to a
Feshbach resonance (called also shape resonance) in the exchange-like interband
pairing. The resonance is switched on by tuning the chemical potential at an
electronic topological transition (ETT) near a band edge, where the Fermi
surface topology of one of the subbands changes from 1D to 2D topology. We show
that the tuning is realized by changing i) the misfit strain between the
superconducting planes and the spacers ii) the charge density and iii) the
disorder. The system is at the verge of a catastrophe i.e. near a structural
and magnetic phase transition associated with the stripes (analogous to the 1/8
stripe phase in cuprates) order to disorder phase transition. Fine tuning of
both the chemical potential and the disorder pushes the critical temperature Ts
of this phase transition to zero giving a quantum critical point. Here the
quantum lattice and magnetic fluctuations promote the Feshbach resonance of the
exchange-like anisotropic pairing. This superconducting phase that resists to
the attacks of temperature is shown to be controlled by the interplay of the
hopping energy between stripes and the quantum fluctuations. The
superconducting gaps in the multiple Fermi surface spots reported by the recent
ARPES experiment of D. V. Evtushinsky et al. arXiv:0809.4455 are shown to
support the Feshbach scenario.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure