6 research outputs found
Metamagnetic Behavior and Kondo Breakdown in Heavy-Fermion CeFePO
We report that nonmagnetic heavy-fermion (HF) iron oxypnictide CeFePO with
two-dimensional XY-type anisotropy shows a metamagnetic behavior at the
metamagnetic field H_M \simeq 4 T perpendicular to the c-axis and that a
critical behavior is observed around H_M. Although the magnetic character is
entirely different from that in other Ce-based HF metamagnets, H_M in these
metamagnets is linearly proportional to the inverse of the effective mass, or
to the temperature where the susceptibility shows a peak. This finding suggests
that H_M is a magnetic field breaking the local Kondo singlet, and the critical
behavior around H_M is driven by the Kondo breakdown accompanied by the
Fermi-surface instability.Comment: 5pages, 6 figures published in Phys. Rev. Let
Nernst effect of the new iron-based superconductor LaOFFeAs
We report the first Nernst effect measurement on the new iron-based
superconductor LaOFFeAs . In the normal state, the
Nernst signal is negative and very small. Below a large positive peak
caused by vortex motion is observed. The flux flowing regime is quite large
compared to conventional type-II superconductors. However, a clear deviation of
the Nernst signal from normal state background and an anomalous depression of
off-diagonal thermoelectric current in the normal state between and 50
K are observed. We propose that this anomaly in the normal state Nernst effect
could correlate with the SDW fluctuations.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; Latex file changed, references adde
Near-degeneracy of several pairing channels in multiorbital models for the Fe-pnictides
Weak-coupling approaches to the pairing problem in the iron pnictide
superconductors have predicted a wide variety of superconducting ground states.
We argue here that this is due both to the inadequacy of certain approximations
to the effective low-energy band structure, and to the natural near-degeneracy
of different pairing channels in superconductors with many distinct Fermi
surface sheets. In particular, we review attempts to construct two-orbital
effective band models, the argument for their fundamental inconsistency with
the symmetry of these materials, and the comparison of the dynamical
susceptibilities in two- and five-orbital models. We then present results for
the magnetic properties, pairing interactions, and pairing instabilities within
a five-orbital Random Phase Approximation model. We discuss the robustness of
these results for different dopings, interaction strengths, and variations in
band structure. Within the parameter space explored, an anisotropic,
sign-changing s-wave state and a d_x2-y2 state are nearly degenerate, due to
the near nesting of Fermi surface sheets.Comment: 17 pages, 23 figure
Spin-singlet superconductivity with multiple gaps in PrO0.89F0.11FeAs
Since the discovery of high transition-temperature (Tc) superconductivity in
copper oxides two decades ago, continuous efforts have been devoted to
searching for similar phenomenon in other compounds. With the exception of MgB2
(Tc =39 K), however, Tc is generally far lower than desired. Recently,
breakthrough has been made in a new class of oxypnictide compounds. Following
the initial discovery of superconductivity in LaO1-x FxFeAs (Tc =26 K), Tc
onset has been raised to 55 K in ReO1-xFxFeAs (Re: Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm). Meanwhile,
unravelling the nature of the energy associated with the formation of
current-carrying pairs (Cooper pairs), referred to as the superconducting
energy gap, is the first and vital step towards understanding why the
superconductivity occurs at such high temperature and is also important for
finding superconductors with still higher Tc. Here we show that, on the basis
of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements in PrO0.89F0.11FeAs (Tc
=45 K), the Cooper pair is in the spin-singlet state (two spins are
anti-paralleled), with two energy gaps opening below Tc. The results strongly
suggest the existence of nodes (zeros) in the gap. None of superconductors
known to date has such unique gap features, although copper-oxides and MgB2
share part of them.Comment: submitted on May 1
Point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy of NdFeAsO_0.85
The newly discovered oxypnictide family of superconductors show very high
critical temperatures of up to 55K. Whilst there is growing evidence that
suggests a nodal order parameter, point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy
can provide crucial information such as the gap value and possibly the number
of energy gaps involved. For the oxygen deficient NdFeAsO0.85 with a Tc of
45.5K, we show that there is clearly a gap value at 4.2K that is of the order
of 7meV, consistent with previous studies on oxypnictides with lower Tc.
Additionally, taking the spectra as a function of gold tip contact pressure
reveals important changes in the spectra which may be indicative of more
complex physics underlying this structure.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. New references included, extra discussion. This
version is accepted in Superconductor Science and Technolog