No Arabic abstract
The new rare-earth arsenate superconductors are layered, low carrier density compounds with many similarities to the high-Tc cuprates. An important question is whether they also exhibit weak-coupling across randomly oriented grain-boundaries. In this work we show considerable evidence for such weak-coupling by study of the dependence of magnetization in bulk and powdered samples. Bulk sample magnetization curves show very little hysteresis while remanent magnetization shows almost no sample size dependence, even after powdering. We conclude that these samples exhibit substantial electromagnetic granularity on a scale approximating the grain size, though we cannot yet determine whether this is intrinsic or extrinsic.
We prepared polycrystalline SmFeAsO1-xFx (Sm1111) bulk samples by sintering and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) in order to study the effects of phase purity and relative density on the intergranular current density. Sintered and HIPped Sm1111 samples are denser with fewer impurity phases, such as SmOF and the grain boundary wetting phase, FeAs. We found quite complex magnetization behavior due to variations of both the inter and intragranular current densities. Removing porosity and reducing second phase content enhanced the intergranular current density, but HIPping reduced Tc and the intragranular current density, due to loss of fluorine and reduction of Tc. We believe that the HIPped samples are amongst the purest polycrystalline 1111 samples yet made. However, their intergranular current densities are still small, providing further evidence that polycrystalline pnictides, like polycrystalline cuprates, are intrinsically granular.
We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the low-energy spin excitations of 112-type iron pnictide Ca$_{0.82}$La$_{0.18}$Fe$_{0.96}$Ni$_{0.04}$As$_{2}$ with bulk superconductivity below $T_c=22$ K. A two-dimensional spin resonance mode is found around $E=$ 11 meV, where the resonance energy is almost temperature independent and linearly scales with $T_c$ along with other iron-based superconductors. Polarized neutron analysis reveals the resonance is nearly isotropic in spin space without any $L$ modulations. Due to the unique monoclinic structure with additional zigzag arsenic chains, the As $4p$ orbitals contribute to a three-dimensional hole pocket around $Gamma$ point and an extra electron pocket at $X$ point. Our results suggest that the energy and momentum distribution of spin resonance does not directly response to the $k_z$ dependence of fermiology, and the spin resonance intrinsically is a spin-1 mode from singlet-triplet excitations of the Cooper pairs in the case of weak spin-orbital coupling.
The search for Majorana bound state (MBS) has recently emerged as one of the most active research areas in condensed matter physics, fueled by the prospect of using its non-Abelian statistics for robust quantum computation. A highly sought-after platform for MBS is two-dimensional topological superconductors, where MBS is predicted to exist as a zero-energy mode in the core of a vortex. A clear observation of MBS, however, is often hindered by the presence of additional low-lying bound states inside the vortex core. By using scanning tunneling microscope on the newly discovered superconducting Dirac surface state of iron-based superconductor FeTe1-xSex (x = 0.45, superconducting transition temperature Tc = 14.5 K), we clearly observe a sharp and non-split zero-bias peak inside a vortex core. Systematic studies of its evolution under different magnetic fields, temperatures, and tunneling barriers strongly suggest that this is the case of tunneling to a nearly pure MBS, separated from non-topological bound states which is moved away from the zero energy due to the high ratio between the superconducting gap and the Fermi energy in this material. This observation offers a new, robust platform for realizing and manipulating MBSs at a relatively high temperature.
We report on the optimization of synthesis of iron-selenide (non-arsenic) superconducting powders that are based on 122 composition, with optimal Tc = 38 K and Jc = 10^5 A/cm2 (4 K). We also report on the wire proof-of concept for these materials, by producing ~ 40 ft of wire that produce Ic. The 122 selenides are more difficult to synthesize and have more complex crystal structures compared to 11 selenides (FeSe and FeSe1-xTex), but they do offer higher Tc and might provoke a natural extension for 11 work.
We report the impact of silver addition on granularity of NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 superconductor. The ac susceptibility and electrical resistivity under magnetic field are measured to study the improvement in weak links of NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 with addition of Ag. The Ag free NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 compound shows superconductivity at around 51.8K. Typical two step superconducting transitions due to the inter and intra grain contributions, induced from the combined effect of superconducting grains and the inter-granular weak-coupled medium respectively are clearly seen in susceptibility plots. In comparison to the pure NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 compound, the coupling between the superconducting grains is significantly improved for 20Ag silver doped sample, and the same is deteriorated for higher Ag content i.e., for 30wt Ag sample. The magneto transport measurements R(T)H of polycrystalline 20Ag doped NdFeAsO0.8F0.2, exhibited the upper critical filed [Hc2(0)] of up to 334Tesla, which is slightly higher than the one observed for pure NdFeAsO0.8F0.2. The flux flow activation energy varies from 7143.38K to 454.77K with magnetic field ranging from 0Tesla to 14Tesla for 20wtAg doped NdFeAsO0.8F0.2. In this investigation, our results show that limited addition of Ag improves the granular coupling of superconducting grains of NdFeAsO0.8F0.2 compound.