No Arabic abstract
We present scanning tunneling microscopy measurements on a cleaved surface of the recently discovered superconductor NdO$_{0.7}$F$_{0.3}$BiS$_{2}$ with a transition temperature ($T_{mathrm{c}}$) of 5.1 K.Tunneling spectra at 4.2 K (below $T_{mathrm{c}}$) and 22 K (above $T_{mathrm{c}}$) show a large spectroscopic gap ($sim$40 mV), which is inconsistent with the metallic nature demonstrated in bulk measurements. Moreover, we find two interesting real-space electronic features. The first feature is a `checkerboard stripe electronic state characterized by an alternating arrangement of two types of nanocluster. In one cluster, one-dimensional electronic stripes run along one Bi-Bi direction, whereas, in the other cluster, the stripes run along the other Bi-Bi direction. The second feature is a nanoscale electronic inhomogeneity whose microscopic source seems to be atomic defects on the cleaved surface or dopant F atoms.
Bulk magnetization, transport and neutron scattering measurements were performed to investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of a polycrystalline sample of the newly discovered ferromagnetic superconductor, CeO$_{0.3}$F$_{0.7}$BiS$_{2}$. Ferromagnetism develops below T$_{FM}$ = 6.54(8) K and superconductivity is found to coexist with the ferromagnetic state below T$_{SC}$ ~ 4.5 K. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements reveal a very weakly dispersive magnetic excitation at 1.8 meV that can be explained by an Ising-like spin Hamiltonian. Under application of an external magnetic field, the direction of the magnetic moment changes from the c-axis to the ab-plane and the 1.8 meV excitation splits into two modes. A possible mechanism for the unusual magnetism and its relation to superconductivity is discussed.
NdO$_{0.5}$F$_{0.5}$BiS$_{2}$ is a new layered superconductor. We have studied the low-lying electronic structure of a single crystalline NdO$_{0.5}$F$_{0.5}$BiS$_{2}$ superconductor, whose superconducting transition temperature is 4.87K, with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The Fermi surface consists of two small electron pockets around the X point and shows little warping along the $k_z$ direction. Our results demonstrate the multi-band and two-dimensional nature of the electronic structure. The good agreement between the photoemission data and the band calculations gives the renormalization factor of 1, indicating the rather weak electron correlations in this material. Moreover, we found that the actual electron doping level and Fermi surface size are much smaller than what are expected from the nominal composition, which could be largely explained by the bismuth dificiency. The small Fermi pocket size and the weak electron correlations found here put strong constraints on theory, and suggest that the BiS$_2$-based superconductors could be conventional BCS superconductors mediated by the electron-phonon coupling.
We measure the magnetic penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$ for NdO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$ ($x$ = 0.3 and 0.5) using the tunnel diode oscillator technique. The $Deltalambda(T)$ shows an upturn in the low-temperature limit which is attributed to the paramagnetism of Nd ions. After subtracting the paramagnetic contributions, the penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$ follows exponential-type temperature dependence at $Tll T_c$. Both $Deltalambda(T)$ and the corresponding superfluid density $rho_s(T)$ can be described by the BCS model with an energy gap of $Delta(0)$ $approx$ 2.0 $k_BT_c$ for both $x$ = 0.3 and 0.5, suggesting strong-coupling BCS superconductivity in the presence of localized moments for NdO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$.
We present the main features of a home-built scanning tunneling microscope that has been attached to the mixing chamber of a dilution refrigerator. It allows scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements down to the base temperature of the cryostat, T approx. 30mK, and in applied magnetic fields up to 13T. The topography of both highly-ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and the dichalcogenide superconductor NbSe2 have been imaged with atomic resolution down to T approx. 50mK as determined from a resistance thermometer adjacent to the sample. As a test for a successful operation in magnetic fields, the flux-line lattice of superconducting NbSe2 in low magnetic fields has been studied. The lattice constant of the Abrikosov lattice shows the expected field dependence B^{-0.5} and measurements in the STS mode clearly show the superconductive density of states with Andreev bound states in the vortex core.
Polycrystalline samples of layered pnictogen diselenide NdO0.8F0.2Sb1-xBixSe2 (x = 0 to 0.8) were successfully synthesized by solid-state reactions. Electrical resistivity in the synthesized samples was systematically decreased with an increase in Bi content x. Crystal structure analysis using synchrotron X-ray diffraction suggests that insulator to metal transition upon Bi doping correlates with anomalous change in c-axis length and/or corrugation in conducting layer. The emergence of superconductivity under high pressure is demonstrated using diamond anvil cell (DAC) with boron-doped diamond electrodes, for x = 0.3 and 0.7 as the representative samples. For Sb-rich one (x = 0.3), we observed a superconducting transition with Tconset = 5.3 K at 50 GPa, which is the first-ever report of the superconductivity in layered SbCh2-based (Ch: chalcogen) compounds. The Tconset of x = 0.3 increased with increasing pressure and reached 7.9 K at 70.8 GPa, followed by the gradual decrease in Tc up to 90 GPa. For Bi-rich one (x = 0.7), a superconducting transition with Tconset = 5.9 K was observed at 43.5 GPa, which is the almost comparable to that of x = 0.3; besides, upper critical field (Hc2) is evaluated to be ~10 T for x = 0.7, which is higher than that of x = 0.3 (Hc2 = 6.7 T at 50 GPa).