In-plane Anisotropy on Resistivity and Thermopower in The Misfit Layered Oxide Bi2-xPbxSr2Co2Oy

We investigated the in-plane anisotropy on the resistivity and thermopower of Bi2-xPbxSr2Co2Oy single crystals, which have a misfit structure between the hexagonal CoO2 layer and the rock salt Bi2Sr2O4 layer. The resistivity and thermopower show significantly large anisotropy, which exceeds two at maximum. This anisotropy would come from the anisotropic pseudogap formation enhanced by the misfit structure. The thermopower changes with Pb doping to take a maximum at x=0.4. The misfit structure improves the thermoelectric properties through chemical pressure. The power factor is as large as 9 muW/cmK2 at 100 K for x=0.6, which is the highest value for thermoelectric oxides at 100 K.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Jpn. J. Appl. Phy

Onset Temperatures for Superconducting Fluctuations in Te-annealed FeTe1−x_{1-x}Sex_x Single Crystals: Evidence for the BCS-BEC Crossover

Recently, the superconductors' community has witnessed an unsettled debate regarding whether iron-based superconductors, in particular FeSe and FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$, are in the Bardeen-Cooper-Shrieffer (BCS) - Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover regime. Nonetheless, one particular system, FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$, has been less investigated in this regard owing to the screening of its intrinsic superconducting properties by the inevitable iron excess. Herein, the onset temperatures for superconducting fluctuations ($T_{scf}$) are investigated by measuring the magnetoresistance (MR) of Te-annealed, high-quality FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ ($x$ = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) single crystals. The results reveal very high $T_{scf}$ values for these crystals. Particularly for $x$ = 0.4, $T_{scf}$ reaches approximately 40 K, which is 2.7 times larger than $T_c$. This indicates that the superconductivity of the FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ system is well within the BCS-BEC crossover regime.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, and 1 table. to be published in JPS Conference Proceeding