No Arabic abstract
We report a $^{71}$Ga nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) study on the characteristics of superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric Ir$_2$Ga$_9$ at zero field (H=0). The $^{71}$Ga-NQR measurements have revealed that $1/T_1$ has the clear coherence peak just below $T_{rm c}$, and decreases exponentially upon further cooling in Ir$_2$Ga$_9$. From these results, Ir$_2$Ga$_9$ is concluded to be the conventional s-wave superconductor. Despite the lack of spatial centrosymmetry, there are no evidence for unconventional superconducting state ascribed to ASOC in Ir$_2$Ga$_9$.
Superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric compounds has attracted sustained interest in the last decades. Here we present a detailed study on the transport, thermodynamic properties and the band structure of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor La$_7$Ir$_3$ ($T_c$ $sim$2.3 K) that was recently proposed to break the time-reversal symmetry. It is found that La$_7$Ir$_3$ displays a moderately large electronic heat capacity (Sommerfeld coefficient $gamma_n$ $sim$ 53.1 mJ/mol $text{K}^2$) and a significantly enhanced Kadowaki-Woods ratio (KWR $sim$ 32 $muOmega$ cm mol$^2$ K$^2$ J$^{-2}$) that is greater than the typical value ($sim$ 10 $muOmega$ cm mol$^2$ K$^2$ J$^{-2}$) for strongly correlated electron systems. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ was seen to be nicely described by the single-band Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg model down to very low temperatures. The hydrostatic pressure effects on the superconductivity were also investigated. The heat capacity below $T_c$ reveals a dominant s-wave gap with the magnitude close to the BCS value. The first-principles calculations yield the electron-phonon coupling constant $lambda$ = 0.81 and the logarithmically averaged frequency $omega_{ln}$ = 78.5 K, resulting in a theoretical $T_c$ = 2.5 K, close to the experimental value. Our calculations suggest that the enhanced electronic heat capacity is more likely due to electron-phonon coupling, rather than the electron-electron correlation effects. Collectively, these results place severe constraints on any theory of exotic superconductivity in this system.
Single crystals of a honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet, Tb$_2$Ir$_3$Ga$_9$ were synthesized, and the physical properties have been studied. From magnetometry, a long-range antiferromagnetic ordering at $approx$12.5 K with highly anisotropic magnetic behavior was found. Neutron powder diffraction confirms that the Tb spins lie along the $va $-axis, parallel to the shortest Tb-Tb contact. Two field-induced spin-flip transitions are observed when the field is applied parallel to this axis, separated by a plateau corresponding roughly to M$approx$M$_{rm{s}}$/2. Transport measurements show the resistivity to be metallic with a discontinuity at the onset of Neel order. Heat capacity shows a $lambda$-like transition confirming the bulk nature of the magnetism. We propose a phenomenological spin-Hamiltonian that describes the magnetization plateau as a result of strong Ising character arising from a quasidoublet ground state of the Tb$^{3+}$ ion in a site of textit{C$_s$} symmetry and expressing a significant bond dependent anisotropy.
The HfV$_2$Ga$_4$ compound was recently reported to exhibit unusual bulk superconducting properties, with the possibility of multiband behavior. To gain insight into its properties, we performed ab-initio electronic structure calculations based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT). Our results show that the density of states at the Fermi energy is mainly composed by V--$d$ states. The McMillan formula predicts a superconducting critical temperature ($T_{c}$) of approximately $3.9,$K, in excellent agreement with the experimental value at $4.1,$K, indicating that superconductivity in this new compound may be explained by the electron-phonon mechanism. Calculated valence charge density maps clearly show directional bonding between Hf and V atoms with 1D highly populated V-chains, and some ionic character between Hf--Ga and V--Ga bonds. Finally, we have shown that there are electrons occupying two distinct bands at the Fermi level, with different characters, which supports experimental indications of possible multiband superconductivity. Based on the results, we propose the study of a related compound, ScV$_2$Ga$_4$, showing that it has similar electronic properties, but probably with a higher $T_c$ than HfV$_2$Ga$_4$.
In this letter, we have examined the superconducting ground state of the HfV$_2$Ga$_4$ compound using resistivity, magnetization, zero-field (ZF) and transverse-field (TF) muon-spin relaxation and rotation ($mu$SR) measurements. Resistivity and magnetization unveil the onset of bulk superconductivity with $T_{bf c}sim$ 3.9~K, while TF-$mu$SR measurements show that the temperature dependence of the superfluid density is well described by a nodal two-gap $s$+$d$-wave order parameter model. In addition, ZF muon relaxation rate increases with decreasing temperature below 4.6 K, indicating the presence of weak spin fluctuations. These observations suggest an unconventional multiband nature of the superconductivity possibly arising from the distinct $d$-bands of V and Hf ions with spin fluctuations playing an important role. To better understand these findings, we carry out first-principles electronic-structure calculations, further highlighting that the Fermi surface consists of multiple disconnected sheets with very different orbital weights and spin-orbit coupling, bridging the way for a nodal multiband superconductivity scenario. In this vein, therefore, HfV$_2$Ga$_4$-family stands out as an open avenue to novel unexplored unconventional superconducting compounds, such as ScV$_2$Ga$_4$ and ZrV$_2$Ga$_4$, and other many rare earths based materials.
Electronic structure of SrPd2Ge2 single crystals is studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and band-structure calculations within the local-density approximation (LDA). The STS measurements show single s-wave superconducting energy gap Delta(0) = 0.5 meV. Photon-energy dependence of the observed Fermi surface reveals a strongly three-dimensional character of the corresponding electronic bands. By comparing the experimentally measured and calculated Fermi velocities a renormalization factor of 0.95 is obtained, which is much smaller than typical values reported in Fe-based superconductors. We ascribe such an unusually low band renormalization to the different orbital character of the conduction electrons and using ARPES and STS data argue that SrPd2Ge2 is likely to be a conventional superconductor, which makes it clearly distinct from isostructural iron pnictide superconductors of the 122 family.