Growth of whisker-like and bulk single crystals of PrFeAs(O,F) under high pressure

Superconducting whisker like and bulk single crystals of PrFeAs(O,F) were grown at 3 GPa and 1500 C from NaAs flux using the cubic anvil high pressure and high temperature technique. The ribbon shaped whisker like crystals were 400-1300 micrometers in length, 40-70 micrometers in width, and 5-10 micrometers in thickness with the long sharp edge in the ab plane and the c axis perpendicular to the face. The grown bulk crystals were found to have irregular plate like shapes with linear sizes up to 1 mm and 120 micrometers in thickness. The both type of single crystalline objects are crystallized in the same tetragonal structure and showed a single phase behavior in the temperature dependence of magnetization with a superconducting transition temperature of about 31 K. The presence of temperature gradient and reactive flux seems to play an important role for the growth of single crystalline whiskers and bulk single crystals of PrFeAs(O,F). These observations demonstrate that the morphological properties of the crystals are depending not only on the symmetry of the crystal structure of the desired material, but also of the growth medium

Study of the in-plane magnetic penetration depth in the cuprate superconductor Ca_2-xNa_xCuO_2Cl_2: role of the apical sites

A study of the in-plane magnetic penetration depth \lambda_ab in a series of the cuprate superconductors Ca_2-xNa_xCuO_2Cl_2 (Na-CCOC) with Na content x=0.11, 0.12, 0.15, 0.18, and 0.19 is reported. The zero temperature values of \lambda_ab(0) were obtained by means of the muon-spin rotation technique, as well as from measurements of the intrinsic susceptibility \chi^int(0) by using the procedure developed by Kanigel et al. [Phys.Rev.B 71, 224511 (2005)]. \lambda_ab at T=0K was found to increase with decreasing doping from \lambda_ab(0)=316(19)nm for the x=0.19 sample to \lambda_ab(0)=430(26)nm for the x=0.11 one. From a comparison of the present Na-CCOC data with those of Bi2201 and La214 cuprate superconductors it is concluded that substitution of the apical oxygen by chlorine decreases the coupling between the superconducting CuO_2 planes, leading to an enhancement of the two-dimensional properties of Na-CCOC.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Anharmonicity and self-energy effects of the E2g phonon in MgB2

We present a Raman scattering study of the E2g phonon anharmonicity and of superconductivity induced self-energy effects in MgB2 single crystals. We show that anharmonic two phonon decay is mainly responsible for the unusually large linewidth of the E2g mode. We observe ~ 2.5 % hardening of the E2g phonon frequency upon cooling into the superconducting state and estimate the electron-phonon coupling strength associated with this renormalization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PR

Normal state bottleneck and nematic fluctuations from femtosecond quasi-particle relaxation dynamics in Sm(Fe,Co)AsO

We investigate temperature and fluence dependent dynamics of the photoexcited quasi-particle relaxation and low-energy electronic structure in electron-doped 1111-structure Sm(Fe_{0.93}Co_{0.07})AsO single crystal. We find that the behavior is qualitatively identical to the 122-structure Ba(Fe,Co)_{2}As_{2} including the presence of a normal state pseudogap and a marked 2-fold symmetry breaking in the tetragonal phase that we relate to the electronic nematicity. The 2-fold symmetry breaking appears to be a general feature of the electron doped iron pnictides

Critical current anisotropy in Nd-1111 single crystals and the infuence of neutron irradiation

We report on angle-resolved magnetization measurements on NdFeAsO$_{0.65}$F$_{0.35}$ (Nd-1111) single crystals. The field dependence of the critical current density, $J_c$, is non-monotonous in these crystals at all orientations and temperatures due to the fishtail effect, which strongly influences the angular dependence of $J_c$. The currents decrease as the field is tilted from the crystallographic c-axis at low fields, but increase at high fields. A peak occurs in the angular dependence of $J_c$ at intermediate fields. The critical currents are significantly enhanced after irradiation with fast neutrons and the fishtail disappears. The different current anisotropies at low and high fields, however, persist. We discuss the data in the framework of the anisotropic scaling approach and propose a transition from dominant pinning by large defects of low density at low fields to pinning by small defects of high density at high fields in the pristine crystal. Strong pinning dominates at all fields after the irradiation, and the angular dependence of $J_c$ can be described by anisotropic scaling only after an appropriate extension to this pinning regime

Critical fields and fluctuations determined from specific heat and magnetoresistance in the same nanogram SmFeAs(O,F) single crystal

Through a direct comparison of specific heat and magneto-resistance we critically asses the nature of superconducting fluctuations in the same nano-gram crystal of SmFeAs(O, F). We show that although the superconducting fluctuation contribution to conductivity scales well within the 2D-LLL scheme its predictions contrast the inherently 3D nature of SmFeAs(O, F) in the vicinity T_{c}. Furthermore the transition seen in specific heat cannot be satisfactory described either by the LLL or the XY scaling. Additionally we have validated, through comparing Hc2 values obtained from the entropy conservation construction (Hab=-19.5 T/K and Hab=-2.9 T/K), the analysis of fluctuation contribution to conductivity as a reasonable method for estimating the Hc2 slope

Evidence for two-gap nodeless superconductivity in SmFeAsO0.8_{0.8}F0.2_{0.2} from point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy

Point-contact Andreev-reflection measurements were performed in SmFeAsO_{0.8}F_{0.2} polycrystals with T_c \simeq 53 K. The experimental conductance curves reproducibly exhibit peaks around \pm 6 mV and shoulders at V \sim 16-20 mV, indicating the presence of two nodeless superconducting gaps. While the single-band Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk fit can only reproduce a small central portion of the conductance curve, the two-gap one accounts remarkably well for the shape of the whole experimental dI/dV. The fits of the normalized curves give Delta_1(0) = 6.15 \pm 0.45 meV and Delta_2(0) = 18 \pm 3 meV. Both gaps close at the same temperature and follow a BCS-like behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps color figure