Superconductivity and Spin Fluctuations in the Electron-Doped Infinitely-Layered High Tc Superconductor Sr0.9_0.9La0.1_0.1CuO2_2 (Tc=42K)

This paper describes the first 63-Cu NMR study of an electron-doped infinitely-layered high Tc superconductor Sr$_0.9$La$_0.1$CuO$_2$ (Tc=42K). The spin dynamics in the normal state above Tc exhibits qualitatively the same behavior as some hole-doped materials with significantly enhanced spin fluctuations. Below Tc, we observed no signature of a Hebel-Slichter coherence peak, suggesting an unconventional nature of the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter.Comment: Invited Paper to SNS-95 Conference (Spectroscopies on Novel Superconductors 1995 at Stanford). Also presented at Aspen Winter Conference on Superconductivity and Grenoble M^2S-HTSC in 199

Local dynamics and thermal activation in the transverse-field Ising chain

There has been considerable recent progress in identifying candidate materials for the transverse-field Ising chain (TFIC), a paradigmatic model for quantum criticality. Here, we study the local spin dynamical structure factor of different spin components in the quantum disordered region of the TFIC. We show that the low-frequency local dynamics of the spins in the Ising- and transverse-field directions have strikingly distinctive temperature dependencies. This leads to the thermal-activation gap for the secular term of the NMR $1/T_2^{\prime}$ relaxation rate to be half of that for the $1/T_1$ relaxation rate. Our findings reveal a new surprise in the nonzero-temperature dynamics of the venerable TFIC model and uncover a means to evince the material realization of the TFIC universality.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Epitaxial growth of FeSe0.5_{0.5}Te0.5_{0.5} thin films on CaF2_2 substrates with high critical current density

In-situ epitaxial growth of FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$ thin films is demonstrated on a non-oxide substrate CaF$_2$. Structural analysis reveals that compressive stress is moderately added to 36-nm thick FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$, which pushes up the critical temperature above 15 K, showing higher values than that of bulk crystals. Critical current density at $T$ = 4.5 K reaches 5.9 x 10$^4$ Acm$^{-2}$ at $\mu_0H$ = 10 T, and 4.2 x 10$^4$ Acm$^{-2}$ at $\mu_0H$ = 14 T. These results indicate that fluoride substrates have high potential for the growth of iron-based superconductors in comparison with popular oxide substrates.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Applied Physics Express 4, 053101 (2011

Field-induced phase transitions in a Kondo insulator

We study the magnetic-field effect on a Kondo insulator by exploiting the periodic Anderson model with the Zeeman term. The analysis using dynamical mean field theory combined with quantum Monte Carlo simulations determines the detailed phase diagram at finite temperatures. At low temperatures, the magnetic field drives the Kondo insulator to a transverse antiferromagnetic phase, which further enters a polarized metallic phase at higher fields. The antiferromagnetic transition temperature $T_c$ takes a maximum when the Zeeman energy is nearly equal to the quasi-particle gap. In the paramagnetic phase above $T_c$, we find that the electron mass gets largest around the field where the quasi-particle gap is closed. It is also shown that the induced moment of conduction electrons changes its direction from antiparallel to parallel to the field.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Spin susceptibility, phase diagram, and quantum criticality in the electron-doped high Tc Superconductor Ba[Fe(1-x)Co(x)]2As2

We report a systematic investigation of Ba[Fe(1-x)Co(x)]2As2 based on transport and 75-As NMR measurements, and establish the electronic phase diagram. We demonstrate that doping progressively suppresses the uniform spin susceptibility and low frequency spin fluctuations. The optimum superconducting phase emerges at x_c~0.08 when the tendency toward spin ordering completely diminishes. Our findings point toward the presence of a quantum critical point near x_c between the SDW (spin density wave) and superconducting phases.Comment: 5 Figure

Fabrication of FeSe1-x superconducting films with bulk properties

We have fabricated high-quality FeSe1-x superconducting films with a bulk Tc of 11-12 K on different substrates, Al2O3(0001), SrTiO3(100), MgO(100), and LaAlO3(100), by using a pulsed laser deposition technique. All the films were grown at a high substrate temperature of 610 oC, and were preferentially oriented along the (101) direction, the latter being to be a key to fabricating of FeSe1-x superconducting thin films with high Tc. According to the energy dispersive spectroscopy data, the Fe:Se composition ratio was 1:0.90+-0.02. The FeSe1-x film grown on a SrTiO3 substrate showed the best quality with a high upper critical magnetic field [Hc2(0)] of 56 T

NMR and Neutron Scattering Experiments on the Cuprate Superconductors: A Critical Re-Examination

We show that it is possible to reconcile NMR and neutron scattering experiments on both LSCO and YBCO, by making use of the Millis-Monien-Pines mean field phenomenological expression for the dynamic spin-spin response function, and reexamining the standard Shastry-Mila-Rice hyperfine Hamiltonian for NMR experiments. The recent neutron scattering results of Aeppli et al on LSCO (x=14%) are shown to agree quantitatively with the NMR measurements of $^{63}T_1$ and the magnetic scaling behavior proposed by Barzykin and Pines. The reconciliation of the $^{17}T_1$ relaxation rates with the degree of incommensuration in the spin fluctuation spectrum seen in neutron experiments is achieved by introducing a new transferred hyperfine coupling $C'$ between oxygen nuclei and their next nearest neighbor $Cu^{2+}$ spins; this leads to a near-perfect cancellation of the influence of the incommensurate spin fluctuation peaks on the oxygen relaxation rates of LSCO. The inclusion of the new $C'$ term also leads to a natural explanation, within the one-component model, the different temperature dependence of the anisotropic oxygen relaxation rates for different field orientations, recently observed by Martindale $et~al$. The measured significant decrease with doping of the anisotropy ratio, $R= ^{63}T_{1ab}/^{63}T_{1c}$ in LSCO system, from $R =3.9$ for ${\rm La_2CuO_4}$ to $R ~ 3.0$ for LSCO (x=15%) is made compatible with the doping dependence of the shift in the incommensurate spin fluctuation peaks measured in neutron experiments, by suitable choices of the direct and transferred hyperfine coupling constants $A_{\beta}$ and B.Comment: 24 pages in RevTex, 9 figures include

Magnetic Properties of Ab initio Model for Iron-Based Superconductors LaFeAsO

By using variational Monte Carlo method, we examine an effective low-energy model for LaFeAsO derived from an ab initio downfolding scheme. We show that quantum and many-body fluctuations near a quantum critical point largely reduce the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordered moment and the model not only quantitatively reproduces the small ordered moment in LaFeAsO, but also explains the diverse dependence on LaFePO, BaFe2As2 and FeTe. We also find that LaFeAsO is under large orbital fluctuations, sandwiched by the AF Mott insulator and weakly correlated metals. The orbital fluctuations and Dirac-cone dispersion hold keys for the diverse magnetic properties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Superconductivity of FeSe0.5Te0.5 Thin Films Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films with PbO-type structure are successfully grown on MgO(100) and LaSrAlO4(001) substrates from FeSe0.5Te0.5 or FeSe0.5Te0.75 polycrystalline targets by pulsed-laser deposition. The film deposited on the MgO substrate (film thickness ~ 55 nm) shows superconductivity at 10.6 K (onset) and 9.2 K (zero resistivity). On the other hand, the film deposited on the LaSrAlO4 substrate (film thickness ~ 250 nm) exhibits superconductivity at 5.4 K (onset) and 2.7 K (zero resistivity). This suggests the strong influence of substrate materials and/or the c-axis length to superconducting properties of FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

d_{x^2-y^2}-Wave Pairing Fluctuations and Pseudo Spin Gap in Two-Dimensional Electron Systems

Pseudogap phenomena of high-T_c cuprates are examined. In terms of AFM (antiferromagnetic) and dSC (d_{x^2-y^2}-wave superconducting) auxiliary fields introduced to integrate out the fermions, the effective action for 2D electron systems with AFM and dSC fluctuations is considered. By the self-consistent renormalization (SCR), the NMR relaxation rate T_1^{-1}, the spin correlation length \xi_\sigma and the pairing correlation length \xi_d are calculated. From this calculation, a mechanism of the pseudogap formation emerges as the region of dominant d-wave short-range order (SRO) over AFM-SRO. When damping for the AFM fluctuation strongly depends on the dSC correlation length through the formation of precursor singlets around (\pi,0) and (0,\pi) points in the momentum space, the pseudogap appears in a region of the normal state characterized by decreasing 1/T_1T and increasing AFM correlation length with decrease in temperature. This reproduces a characteristic feature of the pseudogap phenomena in many underdoped cuprates. When the damping becomes insensitive to the dSC correlation length, the pseudogap region shrinks as in the overdoped cuprates.Comment: 13 pages with 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.; figure inclusion correcte