Co-NMR Knight Shift of NaxCoO2 \dot yH2O Studied in Both Superconducting Regions of the Tc-nuQ3 Phase Diagram Divided by the Nonsuperconducting Phase

In the temperature (T)-nuQ3 phase diagram of NaxCoO2 \dot yH2O, there exist two superconducting regions of nuQ3 separated by the nonsuperconducting region, where nuQ3 is usually estimated from the peak position of the 59Co-NQR spectra of the 5/2-7/2 transition and well-approximated here as nuQ3~3nuQ,nuQ being the interaction energy between the nuclear quadrupole moment and the electric field gradient. We have carried out measurements of the 59Co-NMR Knight shift (K) for a single crystal in the higher-nuQ3 superconducting phase and found that K begins to decrease with decreasing T at Tc for both magnetic field directions parallel and perpendicular to CoO2-planes. The result indicates together with the previous ones that the superconducting pairs are in the spin-singlet state in both phases, excluding the possibility of the spin-triplet superconductivity in this phase diagram. The superconductivity of this system spreads over the wide nuQ3 regions, but is suppressed in the narrow region located at the middle point of the region possibly due to charge instability.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Impurity-induced in-gap state and Tc in sign-reversing s-wave superconductors: analysis of iron oxypnictide superconductors

The sign-reversing fully gapped superconducting state, which is expected to be realized in oxypnictide superconductors, can be prominently affected by nonmagnetic impurities due to the interband scattering of Cooper pairs. We study this problem based on the isotropic two-band BCS model: In oxypnictide superconductors, the interband impurity scattering $I'$ is not equal to the intraband one $I$. In the Born scattering regime, the reduction in Tc is sizable and the impurity-induced density of states (DOS) is prominent if $I\sim I'$, due to the interband scattering. Although impurity-induced DOS can yield a power-law temperature dependence in $1/T_1$, a sizable suppression in Tc is inevitably accompanied. In the unitary scattering regime, in contrast, impurity effect is very small for both Tc and DOS except at $I=I'$. By comparing theory and experiments, we expect that the degree of anisotropy in the $s_\pm$-wave gap function strongly depends on compounds.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, to be published in New. J. Phy

CoO2-Layer-Thickness Dependence of Magnetic Properties and Possible Two Different Superconducting States in NaxCoO2.yH2O

In order to understand the experimentally proposed phase diagrams of NaxCoO2.yH2O, we theoretically study the CoO2-layer-thickness dependence of magnetic and superconducting (SC) properties by analyzing a multiorbital Hubbard model using the random phase approximation. When the Co valence (s) is +3.4, we show that the magnetic fluctuation exhibits strong layer-thickness dependence where it is enhanced at finite (zero) momentum in the thicker (thinner) layer system. A magnetic order phase appears sandwiched by two SC phases, consistent with the experiments. These two SC phases have different pairing states where one is the singlet extended s-wave state and the other is the triplet p-wave state. On the other hand, only a triplet p-wave SC phase with dome-shaped behavior of Tc is predicted when s=+3.5, which is also consistent with the experiments. Controversial experimental results on the magnetic properties are also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Deformation of Electronic Structures Due to CoO6 Distortion and Phase Diagrams of NaxCoO2.yH2O

Motivated by recently reported experimental phase diagrams, we study the effects of CoO6 distortion on the electronic structure in NaxCoO2.yH2O. We construct the multiband tight-binding model by employing the LDA result. Analyzing this model, we show the deformation of band dispersions and Fermi-surface topology as functions of CoO2-layer thickness. Considering these results together with previous theoretical ones, we propose a possible schematic phase diagram with three successive phases: the extended s-wave superconductivity (SC), the magnetic order, and the spin-triplet SC phases when the Co valence number s is +3.4. A phase diagram with only one phase of spin-triplet SC is also proposed for the s=+3.5 case.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Magnetic properties of superconducting cobalt oxides NaxCoO2.yH2O

Studies of the NMR Knight shift K of Na0.3CoO2.yH2O have been carried out in detail. The suppression of K by the occurrence of the superconductivity reported previously by the present authors in both magnetic field directions perpendicular and parallel to the c axis has been confirmed, indicating that the Cooper pairs are in the singlet state. The anisotropy of the suppression amplitudes is consistent with the anisotropy of the hyperfine coupling constant Aspin estimated by the K-kai plot. It has also been found that even samples, which do not exhibit a significant amount of the Curie-Weiss-like increase of the uniform magnetic susceptibility kai with decreasing temperature T, exhibit the superconducting transition, which indicates that the superconducting Na0.3CoO2.1.3H2O is not necessarily be in the proximity region of the ferromagnetic phase. It has also been confirmed that the superconducting transition temperature Tc of the samples prepared by mixing Na0.7CoO2, H2O (or D2O) and bromine for 4 h, and separating the resultant powder from the solution by filtration, depends on the elapsed time t after filtration. For these samples, the Curie constant of kai estimated at low temperatures increases with t, supporting the idea that the number of the lattice imperfection possibly due to the oxygen-vacancy-formation increases with t. Even for such samples, the superconductivity appears, which seems to exclude the possibility of the anisotropic superconducting order parameter. These results are favorable for the full-gapped superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, submitted to JPS

Microwave response of superconducting pnictides: extended s±s_{\pm} scenario

We consider a two-band superconductor with relative phase $\pi$ between the two order parameters as a model for the superconducting state in ferropnictides. Within this model we calculate the microwave response and the NMR relaxation rate. The influence of intra- and interband impurity scattering beyond the Born and unitary limits is taken into account. We show that, depending on the scattering rate, various types of power law temperature dependencies of the magnetic field penetration depth and the NMR relaxation rate at low temperatures may take place.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure