We measured the optical conductivity of superconducting LiFeAs. In the superconducting state, the formation of the condensate leads to a spectral-weight loss and yields a penetration depth of 225 nm. No sharp signature of the superconducting gap is observed. This suggests that the system is likely in the clean limit. A Drude-Lorentz parametrization of the data in the normal state reveals a quasiparticle scattering rate supportive of spin fluctuations and proximity to a quantum critical point.
The lithium ions in Lithium iron arsenide phases with compositions close to LiFeAs have been located using powder neutron diffraction. These phases exhibit superconductivity at temperatures at least as high as 16 K demonstrating that superconductivity in compounds with [FeAs]- anti-PbO-type anionic layers occurs in compounds with at least three different structure types and occurs for a wide range of As-Fe-As bond angles.
In conventional s-wave superconductors, only magnetic impurities exhibit impurity bound states, whereas for an s+- order parameter they can occur for both magnetic and non-magnetic impurities. Impurity bound states in superconductors can thus provide important insight into the order parameter. Here, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of native and engineered iron-site defects in LiFeAs. Detailed comparison of tunneling spectra measured on impurities with spin fluctuation theory reveals a continuous evolution from negligible impurity bound state features for weaker scattering potential to clearly detectable states for somewhat stronger scattering potentials. All bound states for these intermediate strength potentials are pinned at or close to the gap edge of the smaller gap, a phenomenon that we explain and ascribe to multi-orbital physics.
A new iron arsenide superconducting system LiFeAs was found that crystallizes into a tetragonal structure with space group P4/nmm. The superconductivity with Tc up to 18 K was observed in the compounds. This simple 111 type layered iron arsenide superconductor can be viewed as an analogue of the infinite layer structure of copper oxides.
The zero-field specific heat of LiFeAs was measured on several single crystals selected from a bulk sample. A sharp Delta Cp/Tc anomaly of approximately 20 mJ/(mole x K^2) was observed. The value appears to be between those of SmFeAs(O0.9F0.1) and (Ba0.6K0.4)Fe2As2, but bears no clear correlation with their Sommerfeld coefficients. The electronic specific heat below Tc further reveals a two-gap structure with the narrower one only on the order of 0.7 meV. While the results are in rough agreement with the Hc1(T) previously reported on both LiFeAs and (Ba0.6K0.4)Fe2As2, they are different from the published specific-heat data of a (Ba0.6K0.4)Fe2As2 single crystal.
Low resistivity (clean) MgB2 bulk samples annealed in Mg vapor show an increase in upper critical field Hc2(T) and irreversibility field Hirr(T) by a factor of 2 in both transport and magnetic measurements. The best sample displayed Hirr above 14 T at 4.2 K and 6 T at 20 K. These changes were accompanied by an increase of the 40 K resistivity from 1.0 to 18 microohm-cm and a lowering of the resistivity ratio from 15 to 3, while the critical temperature Tc decreased by only 1-2 K. These results point the way to make prepare MgB2 attractive for magnet applications.