We present a tutorial on the principles of crystal growth of intermetallic and oxide compounds from molten solutions, with an emphasis on the fundamental principles governing the underlying phase equilibria and phase diagrams of multicomponent systems.
We use polarised neutron diffraction to study the induced magnetization density of near optimally doped Ba(Fe0.935Co0.065)2As2 (T_C=24 K) as a function of magnetic field (1<H<9 T) and temperature (2<T<300 K). The T-dependence of the induced moment in the superconducting state is consistent with the Yosida function, characteristic of spin-singlet pairing. The induced moment is proportional to applied field for H < 9 T ~ Hc2/6. In addition to the Yosida spin-susceptibility, our results reveal a large zero-field contribution M (H=>0,T=>0)/H ~ 2/3 chi_{normal} which does not scale with the field or number of vortices and is most likely due to the van Vleck susceptibility. Magnetic structure factors derived from the polarization dependence of 15 Bragg reflections were used to make a maximum entropy reconstruction of the induced magnetization distribution in real space. The magnetization is confined to the Fe atoms and the measured density distribution is in good agreement with LAPW band structure calculations which suggest that the relevant bands near the Fermi energy are of the d_{xz/yz} and d_{xy} type.
Detailed study of the LDOS associated with the surface-state-band near a step-edge of the strong topological-insulator Bi2Te3, reveal a one-dimensional bound state that runs parallel to the stepedge and is bound to it at some characteristic distance. This bound state is clearly observed in the bulk gap region, while it becomes entangled with the oscillations of the warped surface band at high energy, and with the valence band states near the Dirac point. Using the full effective Hamiltonian proposed by Zhang et al., we obtain a closed formula for this bound state that fits the data and provide further insight into the general topological properties of the electronic structure of the surface band near strong structural defects.
Through a systematic high resolution angle-resolved photoemission study of the iron pnictide compounds (Ba,Sr)Fe$_2$As$_2$, we show that the electronic structures of these compounds are significantly reconstructed across the spin density wave ordering, which cannot be described by a simple folding scenario of conventional density wave ordering. Moreover, we find that LDA calculations with an incorporated suppressed magnetic moment of 0.5$mu_{tiny{textrm{B}}}$ can match well the details in the reconstructed electronic structure, suggesting that the nature of magnetism in the pnictides is more itinerant than local, while the origin of suppressed magnetic moment remains an important issue for future investigations.
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy studies on high-quality Bi$_2$Te$_3$ crystals exhibit perfect correspondence to ARPES data, hence enabling identification of different regimes measured in the local density of states (LDOS). Oscillations of LDOS near a step are analyzed. Within the main part of the surface band oscillations are strongly damped, supporting the hypothesis of topological protection. At higher energies, as the surface band becomes concave, oscillations appear which disperse with a particular wave-vector that may result from an unconventional hexagonal warping term.
This article describes new polar angle-dependent magnetoresistance (ADMR) measurements in the overdoped cuprate Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+delta}$ over an expanded range of temperatures and azimuthal angles. These detailed measurements re-affirm the analysis of earlier data taken over a more restricted temperature range and at a single azimuthal orientation, in particular the delineation of the intraplane scattering rate into isotropic and anisotropic components. These new measurements also reveal additional features in the temperature and momentum dependence of the scattering rate, including anisotropy in the $T^2$ component and the preservation of both the $T$-linear and $T^2$ components up to 100 K. The resultant form of the scattering rate places firm constraints on the development of any forthcoming theoretical framework for the normal state charge response of high temperature superconducting cuprates.
We investigate the surface state of Bi$_2$Te$_3$ using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and transport measurements. By scanning over the entire Brillouin zone (BZ), we demonstrate that the surface state consists of a single non-degenerate Dirac cone centered at the $Gamma$ point. Furthermore, with appropriate hole (Sn) doping to counteract intrinsic n-type doping from vacancy and anti-site defects, the Fermi level can be tuned to intersect only the surface states, indicating a full energy gap for the bulk states, consistent with a carrier sign change near this doping in transport properties. Our experimental results establish for the first time that Bi$_2$Te$_3$ is a three dimensional topological insulator with a single Dirac cone on the surface, as predicted by a recent theory.
Single crystal neutron diffraction is used to investigate the magnetic and structural phase diagram of the electron doped superconductor Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$. Heat capacity and resistivity measurements have demonstrated that Co doping this system splits the combined antiferromagnetic and structural transition present in BaFe$_2$As$_2$ into two distinct transitions. For $x$=0.025, we find that the upper transition is between the high-temperature tetragonal and low-temperature orthorhombic structures with ($T_{mathrm{TO}}=99 pm 0.5$ K) and the antiferromagnetic transition occurs at $T_{mathrm{AF}}=93 pm 0.5$ K. We find that doping rapidly suppresses the antiferromagnetism, with antiferromagnetic order disappearing at $x approx 0.055$. However, there is a region of co-existence of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity. The effect of the antiferromagnetic transition can be seen in the temperature dependence of the structural Bragg peaks from both neutron scattering and x-ray diffraction. We infer from this that there is strong coupling between the antiferromagnetism and the crystal lattice.
Angle-dependent magnetoresistance measurements are used to determine the isotropic and anisotropic components of the transport scattering rate in overdoped Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+delta}$ for a range of $T_c$ values between 15K and 35K. The size of the anisotropic scattering term is found to scale linearly with $T_c$, establishing a link between the superconducting and normal state physics. Comparison with results from angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy indicates that the transport and quasiparticle lifetimes are distinct.
The angle-dependent interlayer magnetoresistance of overdoped Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+delta}$ has been measured in high magnetic fields up to 45 Tesla. A conventional Boltzmann transport analysis with no basal-plane anisotropy in the cyclotron frequency $omega_c$ or transport lifetime $tau$ is shown to be inadequate for explaining the data. We describe in detail how the analysis can be modified to incorporate in-plane anisotropy in these two key quantities and extract the degree of anisotropy for each by assuming a simple four-fold symmetry. While anisotropy in $omega_c$ and other Fermi surface parameters may improve the fit, we demonstrate that the most important anisotropy is that in the transport lifetime, thus confirming its role in the physics of overdoped superconducting cuprates.
