Pressure-induced and Composition-induced Structural Quantum Phase Transition in the Cubic Superconductor (Sr/Ca)_3Ir_4Sn_{13}

We show that the quasi-skutterudite superconductor Sr_3Ir_4Sn_{13} undergoes a structural transition from a simple cubic parent structure, the I-phase, to a superlattice variant, the I'-phase, which has a lattice parameter twice that of the high temperature phase. We argue that the superlattice distortion is associated with a charge density wave transition of the conduction electron system and demonstrate that the superlattice transition temperature T* can be suppressed to zero by combining chemical and physical pressure. This enables the first comprehensive investigation of a superlattice quantum phase transition and its interplay with superconductivity in a cubic charge density wave system.Comment: 4 figures, 5 pages (excluding supplementary material). To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Constructing reparametrization invariant metrics on spaces of plane curves

Metrics on shape space are used to describe deformations that take one shape to another, and to determine a distance between them. We study a family of metrics on the space of curves, that includes several recently proposed metrics, for which the metrics are characterised by mappings into vector spaces where geodesics can be easily computed. This family consists of Sobolev-type Riemannian metrics of order one on the space $\text{Imm}(S^1,\mathbb R^2)$ of parametrized plane curves and the quotient space $\text{Imm}(S^1,\mathbb R^2)/\text{Diff}(S^1)$ of unparametrized curves. For the space of open parametrized curves we find an explicit formula for the geodesic distance and show that the sectional curvatures vanish on the space of parametrized and are non-negative on the space of unparametrized open curves. For the metric, which is induced by the "R-transform", we provide a numerical algorithm that computes geodesics between unparameterised, closed curves, making use of a constrained formulation that is implemented numerically using the RATTLE algorithm. We illustrate the algorithm with some numerical tests that demonstrate it's efficiency and robustness.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures. Extended versio

Unconventional Superconductivity in the Layered Iron Germanide YFe(2)Ge(2).

The iron-based intermetallic YFe_{2}Ge_{2} stands out among transition metal compounds for its high Sommerfeld coefficient of the order of 100  mJ/(mol K^{2}), which signals strong electronic correlations. A new generation of high quality samples of YFe_{2}Ge_{2} show superconducting transition anomalies below 1.8 K in thermodynamic, magnetic, and transport measurements, establishing that superconductivity is intrinsic in this layered iron compound outside the known superconducting iron pnictide or chalcogenide families. The Fermi surface geometry of YFe_{2}Ge_{2} resembles that of KFe_{2}As_{2} in the high pressure collapsed tetragonal phase, in which superconductivity at temperatures as high as 10 K has recently been reported, suggesting an underlying connection between the two systems.The work was supported by the EPSRC of the UK and by Trinity College. Supporting data can be found at https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/253875.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Physical Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.12700

Research data supporting "Unconventional superconductivity in the layered iron germanide YFe2Ge2"

Data is grouped according to the figures in the publication which it supports. Fig. 1 shows resistivity vs. temperature at various applied magnetic fields in YFe2Ge2, and the .txt datasets give the data underlying this diagram. Fig. 2 shows how resistive superconducting transition temperatures depend on sample quality, as measured by the residual resistance ratio, and the .txt dataset gives the underlying table of data. Fig. 3 shows heat capacity and magnetisation data taken at low temperature, and the .txt datasets give the underlying data, as well as giving the data underlying the theoretical extrapolation curves for temperatures less than 0.4 K. The inset to Fig. 3 shows the dependence of the critical field on temperature, as extracted from resistivity and heat capacity measurements, and the .txt datasets give the underlying data. Figure 1 in the Supplemental Material uses some of the same data as Fig. 3. Methods are described further in the publication.This research data supports “Unconventional superconductivity in the layered iron germanide YFe2Ge2” published in “Physical Review Letters” 116, 127001. Accepted version available at https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/25399610.1103/PhysRevLett.116.127001This work was supported by the EPSRC [grant number EP/K012894/1]