No Arabic abstract
We investigated the superconducting state of the noncentrosymmetric superconductors Li$_2$Pd$_x$Pt$_{3-x}$B with superconducting transition temperature $T_c$= 5.16(8) K ($x$=2.25), 3.56(8) K ($x=1.5$) and 2.60 K ($x=0$) by means of muon-spin rotation ($mu$SR) and specific heat experiments. The $mu$SR relaxation rate $sigma_{sc}$ was found to be constant at low temperatures for all the compounds. Data taken at different magnetic fields show that the magnetic penetration depth $lambda$ is field-independent for Li$_2$Pd$_{2.25}$Pt$_{0.75}$B and Li$_2$Pt$_{3}$B. The electronic contribution to the specific heat measured in Li$_2$Pd$_{1.5}$Pt$_{1.5}$B and Li$_2$Pt$_{3}$B increases exponentially at the lowest temperatures. These features suggest that the {it whole family} of Li$_2$Pd$_x$Pt$_{3-x}$B are single-gap s-wave superconductors across the entire doping regime.
We have performed x-ray photoemission spectroscopy on the system of noncentrosymmetric superconductor, Li$_2$(Pd$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$3)B. For Li$_2$Pt$_3$B, we found 2 major peaks with 2 other weak components, and the band calculations were in agreement with the observation. The assignment of valence band features using the calculated partial density of states determined that Pt 5d and B 2p contribute to the density of states at the Fermi level. The effect of antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling on the band structure might have been probed, and the analysis on the effect of Pt incorporation into the system indicates the smooth evolution of electronic structures. We presented the measurements of core levels (Pd 3d, Pt 4f, and B 1s) and discussed the chemical bonding states and electronic structures from them.
Superconductivity was first observed more than a century ago, but the search for new superconducting materials remains a challenge. The Cooper pairs in superconductors are ideal embodiments of quantum entanglement. Thus, novel superconductors can be critical for both learning about electronic systems in condensed matter and for possible application in future quantum technologies. Here two previously unreported materials, NbIr$_2$B$_2$ and TaIr$_2$B$_2$, are presented with superconducting transitions at 7.2 and 5.2 K, respectively. They display a unique noncentrosymmetric crystal structure, and for both compounds the magnetic field that destroys the superconductivity at 0 K exceeds one of the fundamental characteristics of conventional superconductors (the Pauli limit), suggesting that the superconductivity may be unconventional. Supporting this experimentally based deduction, first-principle calculations show a spin split Fermi surface due to the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. These materials may thus provide an excellent platform for the study of non-BCS superconductivity in intermetallic compounds.
Measurements of the in-plane magnetic field penetration depth lambda_{ab} in Fe-based superconductors with the nominal composition SmFeAsO_0.85 (T_csimeq52K) and NdFeAsO_0.85 (T_csimeq51K) were carried out by means of muon-spin-rotation. The absolute values of lambda_{ab} at T=0 were found to be 189(5)nm and 195(5)nm for Sm and Nd substituted samples, respectively. The analysis of the magnetic penetration depth data within the Uemura classification scheme, which considers the correlation between the superconducting transition temperature T_c and the effective Fermi temperature T_F, reveal that both families of Fe-based superconductors (with and without fluorine) falls to the same class of unconventional superconductors.
We report transverse-field (TF) muon spin rotation experiments on single crystals of the topological superconductor Sr$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ with nominal concentrations $x=0.15$ and $0.18$ ($T_c sim 3$ K). The TF spectra ($B= 10$ mT), measured after cooling to below $T_c$ in field, did not show any additional damping of the muon precession signal due to the flux line lattice within the experimental uncertainty. This puts a lower bound on the magnetic penetration depth $lambda geq 2.3 ~mu$m. However, when we induce disorder in the vortex lattice by changing the magnetic field below $T_c$ a sizeable damping rate is obtained for $T rightarrow 0$. The data provide microscopic evidence for a superconducting volume fraction of $sim 70~ %$ in the $x=0.18$ crystal and thus bulk superconductivity.
We report a study of the organic compound $(TMTSF)_2 ClO_4$ in both a sample cooled very slowly through the anion ordering temperature (relaxed state) and a sample cooled more rapidly (intermediate state). For the relaxed state the entire sample is observed to be superconducting below about T_c ~ 1.2 K. The second moment of the internal field distribution was measured for the relaxed state yielding an in-plane penetration depth of ~ 12000 Angstroms. The intermediate state sample entered a mixed phase state, characterized by coexisting macroscopic sized regions of superconducting and spin density wave (SDW) regions, below T_c ~ 0.87 K. These data were analyzed using a back-to-back cutoff exponential function, allowing the extraction of the first three moments of the magnetic field distribution. Formation of a vortex lattice is observed below 0.87 K as evidenced by the diamagnetic shift for the two fields in which we took intermediate state data.