Thermal transport of the single-crystal rare-earth nickel borocarbides RNi2B2C

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://journals.aps.org/The quaternary intermetallic rare-earth nickel borocarbides RNi2B2C are a family of compounds that show magnetic behavior, superconducting behavior, and/or both. Thermal transport measurements reveal both electron and phonon scattering mechanisms, and can provide information on the interplay of these two long-range phenomena. In general the thermal conductivity kappa is dominated by electrons, and the high temperature thermal conductivity is approximately linear in temperature and anomalous. For R=Tm, Ho, and Dy the low-temperature thermal conductivity exhibits a marked loss of scattering at the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature T-N. Magnon heat conduction is suggested for R=Tm. The kappa data for R=Ho lends evidence for gapless superconductivity in this material above T-N. Unlike the case for the non-magnetic superconductors in the family, R=Y and Lu, a phonon peak in the thermal conductivity below T-c is not observed down to T=1.4 K for the magnetic superconductors. Single-crystal quality seems to have a strong effect on kappa. The electron-phonon interaction appears to weaken as one progresses from R=Lu to R=Gd. The resistivity data shows the loss of scattering at T-N for R=Dy, Tb, and Gd; and the thermoelectric power for all three of these materials exhibits an enhancement below T-N

Anisotropic magnetoresistance of single-crystal HoNi2B2C and the interplay of magnetic and superconducting order

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://journals.aps.org/The in-plane resistivity and magnetization measurements as a function of the magnitude and direction of the magnetic field and the temperature are reported for single-crystal samples of the HoNi2B2C magnetic superconductor. Features corresponding to several distinct magnetic phases and the coexistence of superconductivity with two of the magnetic phases are observed. Contrary to previous measurements for polycrystalline samples, reentrant superconductivity is not observed in the absence of a field for these samples. The measurements indicate an extremely rich interplay between superconductivity and different magnetic structures that can be influenced by field, temperature, and current. The results correlate quantitatively with and complement previous determinations of the magnetic phase diagram and qualitatively with determinations of the superconducting phases by measurements of the single-crystal magnetization and heat capacity. HoNi2B2C is highly anisotropic, and phase diagrams for the field along the (100) and (001) directions are presented

Angular dependence of metamagnetic transitions in DyAgSb2

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://journals.aps.org/Measurementsof the magnetization of DyAgSb2 reveal a complex system of up to 11 well-defined metamagnetic states for the field applied within the basal plane. Measurements of the magnetization vs the angle the applied field makes with respect to the [110] axis show the Dy3+ moments are constrained to lie along one of the four [110] directions within the basal plane. From the angular dependence of the critical fields and plateau magnetizations, the net distribution of the moments may be deduced for each state. Finally, the coupling constants are calculated within the framework of the "four-position clock model." [S0163-1829(99)04302-7]

Electron spin resonance of Gd3+ in the normal state of RNi2B2C (R=Y,Lu)

Electron spin resonance (ESR) of Gd3+ in the normal state (T>T-c) of R1-xGdxNi2B2C (R=Y,Lu) is reported. The results show that the exchange coupling between the rare-earth localized magnetic moment and the conduction electrons depends on the conduction electrons momentum transfer (\k(F)(in)-k(F)(out)\ = q), i.e., J(fs)(q). The temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth yields a value for one of the exchange parameters, [J(fs)(2)(q)](EF)(1/2), which is in agreement with that estimated from the slope of the initial linear decrease of T-c by the Gd3+ impurities. These results indicate that the R1-xGdxNi2B2C (R=Y,Lu) compounds behave as conventional BCS superconductors, in agreement with previous reports. [S0163-1829(98)02806-9].5763668367

Critical change in the Fermi surface of iron arsenic superconductors at the onset of superconductivity

The phase diagram of a correlated material is the result of a complex interplay between several degrees of freedom, providing a map of the material's behavior. One can understand (and ultimately control) the material's ground state by associating features and regions of the phase diagram, with specific physical events or underlying quantum mechanical properties. The phase diagram of the newly discovered iron arsenic high temperature superconductors is particularly rich and interesting. In the AE(Fe1-xTx)2As2 class (AE being Ca, Sr, Ba, T being transition metals), the simultaneous structural/magnetic phase transition that occurs at elevated temperature in the undoped material, splits and is suppressed by carrier doping, the suppression being complete around optimal doping. A dome of superconductivity exists with apparent equal ease in the orthorhombic / antiferromagnetic (AFM) state as well as in the tetragonal state with no long range magnetic order. The question then is what determines the critical doping at which superconductivity emerges, if the AFM order is fully suppressed only at higher doping values. Here we report evidence from angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) that critical changes in the Fermi surface (FS) occur at the doping level that marks the onset of superconductivity. The presence of the AFM order leads to a reconstruction of the electronic structure, most significantly the appearance of the small hole pockets at the Fermi level. These hole pockets vanish, i. e. undergo a Lifshitz transition, at the onset of superconductivity. Superconductivity and magnetism are competing states in the iron arsenic superconductors. In the presence of the hole pockets superconductivity is fully suppressed, while in their absence the two states can coexist.Comment: Updated version accepted in Nature Physic

Large, high quality single-crystals of the new Topological Kondo Insulator, SmB6

SmB6 has recently been predicted to be a Topological Kondo Insulator, the first strongly correlated heavy fermion material to exhibit topological surface states. High quality crystals are necessary to investigate the topological properties of this material. Single crystal growth of the rare earth hexaboride, SmB6, has been carried out by the floating zone technique using a high power xenon arc lamp image furnace. Large, high quality single-crystals are obtained by this technique. The crystals produced by the floating zone technique are free of contamination from flux materials and have been characterised by resistivity and magnetisation measurements. These crystals are ideally suited for the investigation of both the surface and bulk properties of SmB6

Angular dependence of metamagnetic transitions in HoNi2B2C

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://journals.aps.org/Detailed measurements of M(2 K, H, theta) of HoNi2B2C, where theta is the angle that the applied field H makes with the [110] axis while remaining perpendicular to the crystallographic c axis, reveal three metamagnetic transitions with angular dependences H-c1 = (4.1 +/- 0.1 kG)/cos(theta), H-c2 = 8.4 +/- 0.2 kG/cos(phi), and H-c3 = (6.6 +/- 0.2 kG)/sin(phi), where phi = theta-45 is the angle from the [100] axis. The high-field saturated moment, M(sat) approximate to 10 mu(B)cos theta is consistent with the local moments being confined to the [110] direction. The locally saturated moments for fields between H-ci (i = 1, 2, 3) also manifest angular dependences that are consistent with combinations of local moments along [110] axes. Analysis of these data lead us to infer that the net distribution of moments is (up arrow down arrow up arrow down arrow up arrow down arrow) for H up arrow up arrow-->) for H-c2 up arrow up arrow-->) for H-c2 H-c3

Tunable Multifunctional Topological Insulators in Ternary Heusler Compounds

Recently the Quantum Spin Hall effect (QSH) was theoretically predicted and experimentally realized in a quantum wells based on binary semiconductor HgTe[1-3]. QSH state and topological insulators are the new states of quantum matter interesting both for fundamental condensed matter physics and material science[1-11]. Many of Heusler compounds with C1b structure are ternary semiconductors which are structurally and electronically related to the binary semiconductors. The diversity of Heusler materials opens wide possibilities for tuning the band gap and setting the desired band inversion by choosing compounds with appropriate hybridization strength (by lattice parameter) and the magnitude of spin-orbit coupling (by the atomic charge). Based on the first-principle calculations we demonstrate that around fifty Heusler compounds show the band inversion similar to HgTe. The topological state in these zero-gap semiconductors can be created by applying strain or by designing an appropriate quantum well structure, similar to the case of HgTe. Many of these ternary zero-gap semiconductors (LnAuPb, LnPdBi, LnPtSb and LnPtBi) contain the rare earth element Ln which can realize additional properties ranging from superconductivity (e. g. LaPtBi[12]) to magnetism (e. g. GdPtBi[13]) and heavy-fermion behavior (e. g. YbPtBi[14]). These properties can open new research directions in realizing the quantized anomalous Hall effect and topological superconductors.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure