No Arabic abstract
We report $^{75}$As NMR measurements on the new quasi one-dimensional superconductor K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ ($T_{c} sim 6.1$~K) [J. K. Bao et al., Phys. Rev. X {bf 5}, 011013 (2015)]. We found evidence for strong enhancement of Cr spin fluctuations above $T_c$ in the [Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$]$_{infty}$ double-walled subnano-tubes based on the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_{1}$. The power law temperature dependence, $1/T_{1}T sim T^{-gamma}$ ($gamma sim 0.25$), is consistent with the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. Moreover, absence of the Hebel-Slichter coherence peak of $1/T_{1}$ just below $T_{c}$ suggests unconventional nature of superconductivity.
We report the discovery of bulk superconductivity (SC) at 6.1 K in a quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) chromium pnictide K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ which contains [(Cr$_3$As$_3$)$^{2-}$]$_{infty}$ double-walled subnano-tubes with face-sharing Cr$_{6/2}$ (As$_{6/2}$) octahedron linear chains in the inner (outer) wall. The material has a large electronic specific-heat coefficient of 70$sim$75 mJ K$^{-2}$ mol$^{-1}$, indicating significantly strong electron correlations. Signature of non-Fermi liquid behavior is shown by the linear temperature dependence of resistivity in a broad temperature range from 7 to 300 K. Unconventional SC is preliminarily manifested by the estimated upper critical field exceeding the Pauli limit by a factor of three to four. The title compound represents a rare example that possibly unconventional SC emerges in a Q1D system with strong electron correlations.
We investigate the static and dynamic spin susceptibility of the 111 type Fe-based superconductor LiFeP with Tc ~ 5 K through the measurement of Knight shift 31K and the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 at 31P site by nuclear magnetic resonance. The constant 31K, small magnitudes of 1/T1T, along with the resistivity rho ~ T^2 all point to the weak spin correlations in LiFeP. 1/T1T display small enhancement toward Tc, indicating that the superconductivity is intimately correlated with the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations.
Following the discovery of superconductivity in quasi-one-dimensional K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ containing [(Cr$_3$As$_3$)$^{2-}$]$_{infty}$ chains [J. K. Bao et al., arXiv: 1412.0067 (2014)], we succeeded in synthesizing an analogous compound, Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$, which also crystallizes in a hexagonal lattice. The replacement of K by Rb results in an expansion of $a$ axis by 3%, indicating a weaker interchain coupling in Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. Bulk superconductivity emerges at 4.8 K, above which the normal-state resistivity shows a linear temperature dependence up to 35 K. The estimated upper critical field at zero temperature exceeds the Pauli paramagnetic limit by a factor of two. Furthermore, the electronic specific-heat coefficient extrapolated to zero temperature in the mixed state increases with $sqrt{H}$, suggesting existence of nodes in the superconducting energy gap. Hence Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ manifests itself as another example of unconventional superconductor in the Cr$_3$As$_3$-chain based system.
Recently a new family of Cr-based A2Cr3As3 (A = K, Rb, Cs) superconductors were reported, which own a rare quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) crystal structure with infinite (Cr3As3)2- chains and exhibit intriguing superconducting characteristics possibly derived from spin-triplet electron pairing. The crystal structure of A2Cr3As3 is actually a slight variation of the hexagonal TlFe3Te3 prototype although they have different lattice symmetry. Here we report superconductivity in a 133-type KCr3As3 compound that belongs to the latter structure. The single crystals of KCr3As3 were prepared by the deintercalation of K ions from K2Cr3As3 crystals which were grown from a high-temperature solution growth method, and it owns a centrosymmetric lattice in contrast to the non-centrosymmetric K2Cr3As3. After annealing at a moderate temperature, the KCr3As3 crystals show bulk superconductivity at 5 K revealed by electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements. The discovery of this KCr3As3 superconductor provides a different structural instance to study the exotic superconductivity in these Q1D Cr-based superconductors.
We have performed polarized Raman scattering measurements on the newly discovered superconductor Ta$_{4}$Pd$_{3}$Te$_{16}$ ($T_c = 4.6$ K). We observe twenty-eight out of thirty-three Raman active modes, with frequencies in good accordance with first-principles calculations. Although most of the phonons observed vary only slightly with temperature and do not exhibit any asymmetric profile that would suggest strong electron-phonon coupling, the linewidth of the A$_{g}$ phonon mode at 89.9 cm$^{-1}$ shows an unconventional increase with temperature decreasing, which is possibly due to a charge-density-wave transition or the emergence of charge-density-wave fluctuations below a temperature estimated to fall in the 140-200 K range.