450 research outputs found
Effect of Sr substitution on superconductivity in Hg2(Ba1-ySry)2YCu2O8-d (part2): bond valence sum approach of the hole distribution
The effects of Sr substitution on superconductivity, and more particulary the
changes induced in the hole doping mechanism, were investigated in
Hg2(Ba1-ySry)2YCu2O8-d by a "bond valence sum" analysis with Sr content from y
= 0.0 to y = 1.0. A comparison with CuBa2YCu2O7-d and Cu2Ba2YCu2O8 systems
suggests a possible explanation of the Tc enhancement from 0 K for y = 0.0 to
42 K for y = 1.0. The charge distribution among atoms of the unit cell was
determined from the refined structure, for y = 0.0 to 1.0. It shows a charge
transfer to the superconducting CuO2 plane via two doping channels pi(1) and
pi(2), i.e. through O2(apical)-Cu and Ba/Sr-O1 bonds respectively.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Condensed Matte
Absence of a structural transition up to 40 Gpa in MgB2 and the relevance of magnesium non-stoichiometry
We report measurements on MgB2 up to ~40GPa. Increasing pressure yields a
monotonous decrease of the lattice parameters and of the c/a ratio, but no
structural transition down to parameters smaller than those of AlB2. The
transition superconducting temperature also decreases with temperature in a
sample dependent way. The results are explained by an increase of the filling
of the 2D pxy bands with pressure, the Mg stoichiometry determining the
starting position of the Fermi level. Our measurements indicate that these hole
bands are the relevant ones for superconductivity.Comment: submitted March 9th 2001, PRB accepte
Superconductivity in Pr2Ba4Cu7O15-delta with metallic double chains
We report superconductivity with =10K in
PrBaCuO compound possessing metallic double
chains. A reduction treatment on as-sintered samples causes not only the
enhanced metallic conduction but also the appearance of superconductivity
accompanied by the c-axis elongation due to oxygen deficiency
Double superconducting transition in the filled skutterudite PrOs4Sb12 and sample characterizations
A thorough characterization of many samples of the filled skutterudite
compound PrOs4Sb12 is provided. We find that the double superconducting
transition in the specific heat Tc1~1.89K and Tc2~1.72K tends to appear in
samples with a large residual resistivity ratio, large specific heat jump at
the superconducting transition and with the highest absolute value of the
specific heat above Tc1. However, we present evidence which casts doubt on the
intrinsic nature of the double superconducting transition. The ratio of the two
specific heat jumps \Delta C(Tc1)/\Delta C(Tc2) shows a wide range of values on
crystals from different batches but also within the same batch. This ratio was
strongly reduced by polishing a sample down to 120um. Remarkably, three samples
exhibit a single sharp transition of ~15mK in width at Tc~1.7K. The normalized
specific heat jump (C-Cnormal)/Cnormal at Tc of two of them is higher than ~32%
so larger than the sum of the two specific heat jumps when a double transition
exists. As an evidence of better quality, the slope in the transition is at
least two time steeper.
We discuss the origins of the double transition; in particular we consider,
based on X-ray diffraction results, a scenario involving Pr-vacancies. The
superconducting phase diagram under magnetic field of a sample with a single
transition is fitted with a two-band model taking into account the good values
for the gap as deduced from thermal conductivity measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physical review
Anisotropic Optic Conductivities due to Spin and Orbital Orderings in LaVO3 and YVO3: First-Principles Studies
The anisotropy of low energy (05eV) optical excitations in strongly
correlated transition-metal oxides is closely related to the spin and orbital
orderings. The recent successes of LDA+ method in describing the magnetic
and electronic structures enable us to calculate the optical conductivity from
first-principles. The LaVO and YVO, both of which have
configuration and have various spin and orbital ordered phases at low
temperature, show distinct anisotropy in the optical spectra. The effects of
spin and orbital ordering on the anisotropy are studied in detail based on our
first-principles calculations. The experimental spectra of both compounds at
low temperature phases can be qualitatively explained with our calculations,
while the studies for the intermediate temperature phase of YVO suggest the
substantial persistence of the low temperature phase at elevated temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted by PR
Nonmagnetic insulator state in Na1CoO2 and phase separation of Na vacancies
Crystallographic, magnetic, and NMR properties of a NaxCoO2 single crystal with x≃1 are presented. We identify the stoichiometric Na1CoO2 phase, which is shown to be a nonmagnetic insulator, as expected for homogeneous planes of Co3+ ions with S=0. In addition, we present evidence that, because of slight average Na deficiency, chemical and electronic phase separation leads to a segregation of Na vacancies into the well-defined, magnetic, Na0.8CoO2 phase. The importance of phase separation is discussed in the context of magnetic order for x≃0.8 and the occurrence of a metal-insulator transition for x→1
Electronic and structural properties of superconducting MgB, CaSi and related compounds
We report a detailed study of the electronic and structural properties of the
39K superconductor \mgbtwo and of several related systems of the same family,
namely \mgalbtwo, \bebtwo, \casitwo and \cabesi. Our calculations, which
include zone-center phonon frequencies and transport properties, are performed
within the local density approximation to the density functional theory, using
the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) and the
norm-conserving pseudopotential methods. Our results indicate essentially
three-dimensional properties for these compounds; however, strongly
two-dimensional -bonding bands contribute significantly at the Fermi
level. Similarities and differences between \mgbtwo and \bebtwo (whose
superconducting properties have not been yet investigated) are analyzed in
detail. Our calculations for \mgalbtwo show that metal substitution cannot be
fully described in a rigid band model. \casitwo is studied as a function of
pressure, and Be substitution in the Si planes leads to a stable compound
similar in many aspects to diborides.Comment: Revised version, Phys.Rev.B in pres
Surface quality studies of high T superconductors of the Hg , Tl and HgTl-families: RBS and resonant C and O backscattering studies
The composition, crystallinity, uniformity, purity, and thermal stability of cuprate superconductors have been studied by Rutherford backscattering and channeling spectrometry, and 3.045 MeV He oxygen non-Rutherford resonant scattering. Further experiments have been performed with 1.75 MeV Hcarbon non-Rutherford resonant scattering. Three sets of samples were studied : HgBaCuO (Hg1201), HgT1BaCaCuO (Hg,T1-1223) and T1BaCuO/LaA10 (T1-2201), either in bulk or as an epitaxial thin film. It was observed that the superconductors exhibit a metal deficiency near the surface, which is largely compensated by excess oxygen. Moreover, the samples are significantly contaminated with carbon within the probing region of the H beam. The thermal stability and surface degradation were studied in both oxidizing ambient and vacuum. As a general trend, the heavy metal deficiency — and consequently the compensating oxygen excess — is enhanced as the temperature increases
Superconductivity in Pseudo-Binary Silicide SrNixSi2-x with AlB2-Type Structure
We demonstrate the emergence of superconductivity in pseudo-binary silicide
SrNixSi2-x. The compound exhibits a structural phase transition from the cubic
SrSi2-type structure (P4132) to the hexagonal AlB2-type structure (P6/mmm) upon
substituting Ni for Si at approximately x = 0.1. The hexagonal structure is
stabilized in the range of 0.1 < x < 0.7. The superconducting phase appears in
the vicinity of the structural phase boundary. Ni acts as a nonmagnetic dopant,
as confirmed by the Pauli paramagnetic behavior.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Pressure Effects and Large Polarons in Layered MgB_2 Superconductor
We consider the dependence of the MgB_2 superconducting critical temperature
on the pressure. Our model exploits the influence of the large polarons on the
band structure of the layered MgB_2 superconductor. Namely, the hole
Pekar-Froehlich polarons form quasi two-dimensional potential wells in the
boron plane which shift the positions of the sigma- and pi-bands. This energy
shift depends on the pressure and the Cooper pairing of the correlated
sigma-electrons happens inside polaron wells. The results obtained are as
follows: dT_c/dp = -\alpha (5.2 \pm 0.9) K/GPa or dT_c/dp = -\alpha (6.9\pm
1.1) K/GPa for a different choice of the Grueneisen parameter. Being compared
with known experimental data they give us a resonable interval for the value of
the Froehlich electron-phonon coupling constant: \alpha = 0.15 - 0.45.Comment: 6 pages, 1 fig, LaTeX, subm. to Phys. Rev.
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