Muon spin relaxation (MuSR) measurements in iron oxy-pnictide systems have revealed: (1) commensurate long-range order in undoped LaOFeAs; (2) Bessel function line shape in La(O0.97F0.03)FeAs which indicates possible incommensurate or stripe magnetism; (3) anomalous weak magnetism existing in superconducting LaOFeP, Ce(O0.84F0.16)FeAs, and Nd(O0.88F0.12)FeAs but absent in superconducting La(O0.92F0.08)FeAs; and (4) scaling of superfluid density and Tc in the Ce, La, and Nd-FeAs superconductors following a nearly linear relationship found in cuprates.
We synthesized bulk polycrystalline samples of RECoAsO (RE=La, Nd and Sm) by solid state reaction route in an evacuated sealed quartz tube. All these compounds are crystallized in a tetragonal structure with space group P4/nmm. The Co, in these compounds is in itinerant ferromagnetic state with its paramagnetic moment above 1.5 microB and the same orders ferromagnetically (FM) with small saturation moment of around 0.20 microB below say 80K. This bulk intrinsic magnetism of Co changes dramatically when nonmagnetic La is changed by magnetic Sm and Nd. Although the itinerant ferromagnetism occurs below 80-100K with small saturation moment, typical anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) transitions (TN1, TN2) are observed at 57K and 45K for Sm and at 69K and 14K for Nd. The transition of Co spins from FM to AFM, for magnetic Sm and Nd in RECoAsO is both field and temperature dependent. For applied fields below 100Oe, both TN1 and TN2 are seen, with intermediate fields below 1-2kOe only TN1 and above say 5kOe the AFM transition is not observed. This is evidenced in isothermal magnetization (MH) plots as well. It is clear that Sm/Nd magnetic moments interact with the ordered Co spins in adjacent layer and thus transforms the FM ordering to AFM. All the studied compounds are metallic in nature, and their magneto-transport R(T)H follows the temperature and field dependent FM-AFM transition of ordered Co spins.
The interplay between different ordered phases, such as superconducting, charge or spin ordered phases, is of central interest in condensed matter physics. The very recent discovery of superconductivity with a remarkable T$_c$= 26 K in Fe-based oxypnictide La(O$_{1-x}$F$_x$)FeAs is a surprise to the scientific communitycite{Kamihara08}. The pure LaOFeAs itself is not superconducting but shows an anomaly near 150 K in both resistivity and dc magnetic susceptibility. Here we provide combined experimental and theoretical evidences showing that the anomaly is caused by the spin-density-wave (SDW) instability, and electron-doping by F suppresses the SDW instability and recovers the superconductivity. Therefore, the La(O$_{1-x}$F$_x$)FeAs offers an exciting new system showing competing orders in layered compounds.
We report measurements of the phonon density-of-states in iron oxypnictide superconductors by inelastic x-ray scattering. A good agreement with ab-initio calculations that do not take into account strong electronic correlations is found, and an unpredicted softening of phonon branches under F doping of these compounds is observed. Raman scattering experiments lead us to conclude that this softening is not related to zone center phonons, and consequently imply an important softening of the relevant phonon branches at finite momentum transfer Q.
We discuss the novel superconducting characteristics and unusual normal-state properties of iron (Fe)-based pnictide superconductors REFeAsO$_{1-y}$ (RE=La,Pr,Nd) and Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$($T_{c}=$ 38 K) by means of $^{57}$Fe-NMR and $^{75}$As-NQR/NMR. In the superconducting state of LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ ($T_{c}=$ 28 K), the spin component of the $^{57}$Fe-Knight shift decreases to almost zero at low temperatures, which provide firm evidence of the superconducting state formed by spin-singlet Cooper pairing. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates $(1/T_{1})$ in LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ and Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ exhibit a $T^{3}$-like dependence without a coherence peak just below $T_{c}$, indicating that an unconventional superconducting state is commonly realized in these Fe-based pnictide compounds. All these events below $T_c$ are consistently argued in terms of an extended s$_{pm}$-wave pairing with a sign reversal of the order parameter among Fermi surfaces. In the normal state, $1/T_1T$ decreases remarkably upon cooling for both the Fe and As sites of LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$. In contrast, it gradually increases upon cooling in Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$. Despite the similarity between the superconducting properties of these compounds, a crucial difference was observed in their normal-state properties depending on whether electrons or holes are doped into the FeAs layers. These results may provide some hint to address a possible mechanism of Fe-based pnictide superconductors.
We report the electrical, magneto transport and specific heat of the layered polycrystalline RECoPO (RE = La, Nd and Sm) samples. These compounds are iso-structural to recently discovered superconductor LaFeAs(O/F). Bulk polycrystalline samples are synthesized by solid state reaction route in an evacuated sealed quartz tube. All these compounds are crystallized in a tetragonal structure with space group P4/nmm. The Cobalt in these compounds is in itinerant state with its paramagnetic moment above 1.4muB and the same orders ferromagnetically (FM) with saturation moment of around 0.20muB below say 80K. Though, LaCoPO shows single paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition near 35K, the NdCoPO and SmCoPO exhibit successive PM-FM-AFM transitions. Both FM and AFM transition temperatures vary with applied field. Although the itinerant ferromagnetism occurs with small saturation moment, typical anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) transitions (TN1, TN2) are observed at 69K and 14K for Nd and 57K and 45K for Sm. This FM-AFM transition of Co spins in NdCoPO and SmCoPO is both field and temperature dependent. The Magneto-transport of NdCoPO and SmCoPO distinctly follows their successive PM-FM-AFM transitions. It is clear that Sm/Nd (4f) interacts with the Co (3d) in first time synthesized Sm/NdCoPO.