Itinerant electron magnetism of η-carbides Co6M6C and Ni6M6C (M=Mo and W)

Magnetic, transport, and thermal properties of metallic η-carbides Co6M6C and Ni6M6C (M = Mo and W) with the cubic Ni6Mo6C-type structure have been characterized. The Ni-based compounds Ni6Mo6C and Ni6W6C are Pauli paramagnets with temperature-independent susceptibilities. Susceptibilities of the Co-based compounds Co6Mo6C and Co6W6C are enhanced and temperature-dependent. Co6Mo6C remains paramagnetic down to the lowest temperature, while Co6W6C undergoes an antiferromagnetic-type transition at 46 K. A metamagnetic transition was observed for Co6W6C at 20–30 T at the lowest temperatures. The correlation among the enhancements in the susceptibility, the resistivity, and the electronic specific heat suggests the presence of moderate electron correlation in these compounds

Possible Spin-triplet Superconductivity in NaxCoO2yH2O - 59Co NMR Study

We report 59Co NMR studies on the magnetically oriented powder samples of Co-oxide superconductors NaxCoO2yH2O with Tc ~ 4.7 K. From two-dimensional powder pattern in the NMR spectrum, the ab-plane Knight shift in the normal state was estimated by the magnetic field dependence of second-order quadrupole shifts at various temperatures. Below 50 K, the Knight shift shows a Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence, similarly to the bulk magnetic susceptibility chi. From the analysis of so-called K-chi plot, the spin and the orbital components of K and the positive hyperfine coupling constant were estimated. The onset temperature of superconducting transition in the Knight shift does not change so much in an applied magnetic field up to 7 T, which is consistent with the reported high upper critical field Hc2. The Knight shift at 7 T shows an invariant behavior below Tc. No coherence peak just below Tc was observed in the temperature dependence of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 in both cases of NMR and NQR. We conclude that the invariant behavior of the Knight shift below Tc and unconventional behaviors of 1/T possibly indicate the spin-triplet superconductivity with p- or f-wave symmetry.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Extended versio

Effect of Na content and hydration on the excitation spectrum of the cobaltite Na_xCoO_2 yH_2O

We report on a Raman scattering study on the superconducting cobaltite $Na_xCoO_2\cdot yH_2O$ as function of Na content and hydration (x$\approx$1/3, 3/4 and y$\approx$0, 2/3, 4/3). The observed phonon scattering and scattering continua are analyzed in terms of lattice strain due to the structural misfit and disorder. Hydration, due to the intercalation of one or two $H_2O$ layers, releases a part of this strain. Our Raman data suggest a connection between disorder on the partly occupied Na sites, the split off of the $a_{1g}$ level from the other $t_{2g}$ states of $Co^{4+}$ and superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, for further information see http://www.peter-lemmens.d