No Arabic abstract
In this study, we performed high-pressure electrical resistivity measurements of polycrystalline FeSe in the pressure range of 1-16.0 GPa at temperatures of 4-300 K. A precise evaluation of Tc from zero-resistivity temperatures revealed that Tc shows a slightly distorted dome-shaped curve, with maximum Tc (30 K) at 6 GPa, which is lower than a previously reported Tc value (~37 K). With the application of pressure, the temperature dependence of resistivity above Tc changes dramatically to a linear dependence; a non-Fermi-liquid-like high-Tc phase appears above 3 GPa. We found a striking correlation between Tc and the Se height: the lower the Se height, the more enhanced is Tc. Moreover, this relation is broadly applicable to other iron pnictides, strongly indicating that high-temperature superconductivity can appear only around the optimum anion height (~1.38A). On the basis of these results, we suggest that the anion height should be considered as a key determining factor of Tc of iron-based superconductors containing various anions.
We revealed that the superconducting transition temperature Tc of the multi-component superconductor Sr2RuO4 is enhanced to 3.3 K under in-plane uniaxial pressure that reduces the tetragonal crystal symmetry. This result suggests that new superconducting phases with a one-component order parameter are induced. We have also clarified the inplane pressure direction dependence of the emergence of this higher-Tc superconducting phase: pressure along the [100] direction is more favorable than pressure along the [110] direction. This result is probably closely related to the direct shortening of the in-plane Ru-O bond length along the pressure direction and the approach of the gamma Fermi surface to the van Hove singularity under the pressure parallel to the [100] direction.
We have established a plot of the anion height dependence of Tc for the typical Fe-based superconductors. The plot appeared a symmetric curve with a peak around 1.38 A. Both data at ambient pressure and under high pressure obeyed the unique curve. This plot will be one of the key strategies for both understanding the mechanism of Fe-based superconductivity and search for the new Fe-based superconductors with higher Tc.
Close to a zero temperature transition between ordered and disordered electronic phases, quantum fluctuations can lead to a strong enhancement of the electron mass and to the emergence of competing phases such as superconductivity. A correlation between the existence of such a quantum phase transition and superconductivity is quite well established in some heavy fermion and iron-based superconductors and there have been suggestions that high temperature superconductivity in the copper oxide materials (cuprates) may also be driven by the same mechanism. Close to optimal doping, where the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ is maximum in the cuprates, two different phases are known to compete with superconductivity: a poorly understood pseudogap phase and a charge ordered phase. Recent experiments have shown a strong increase in quasiparticle mass $m^*$ in the cuprate YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ as optimal doping is approached suggesting that quantum fluctuations of the charge ordered phase may be responsible for the high-$T_c$ superconductivity. We have tested the robustness of this correlation between $m^*$ and $T_c$ by performing quantum oscillation studies on the stoichiometric compound YBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ under hydrostatic pressure. In contrast to the results for YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$, we find that in YBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ the mass decreases as $T_c$ increases under pressure. This inverse correlation between $m^*$ and $T_c$ suggests that quantum fluctuations of the charge order enhance $m^*$ but do not enhance $T_c$.
Bulk FeSe superconducts inside a nematic phase, that sets in through an orthorhombic distortion of the high temperature tetragonal phase. Bulk non-alloy tetragonal superconducting FeSe does not exist as yet. This raises the question whether nematicity is fundamental to superconductivity. We employ an advanced ab-initio ability and show that bulk tetragonal FeSe can, in principle, superconduct at almost the same Tc as the orthorhombic phase had that been the ground state. Further, we perform rigorous benchmarking of our theoretical spin susceptibilities against experimentally observed data over all energies and relevant momentum direction. We show that susceptibilities computed in both the tetragonal and orthorhombic phases already have the correct momentum structure at all energies, but not the desired intensity. The enhanced nematicity that simulates the correct spin fluctuation intensity can only lead to a maximum 10-15% increment in the superconducting Tc . Our results suggest while nematicity may be intrinsic property of the bulk FeSe, is not the primary force driving the superconducting pairing.
We have performed an angle-resolved photoemission study of the nodal quasi-particle spectra of the high-Tc cuprate tri-layer Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+d (Tc~ 110 K). The spectral weight Z of the nodal quasi-particle increases with decreasing temperature across the Tc. Such a temperature dependence is qualitatively similar to that of the coherence peak intensity in the anti nodal region of various high-Tc cuprates although the nodal spectral weight remains finite and large above Tc. We attribute this observation to the reduction of electron correlation strength in going from the normal metallic state to the superconducting state, a characteristic behavior of a superconductor with strong electron correlation.