No Arabic abstract
$^{57}$Fe Mossbauer spectra at different temperatures between $sim 5$ K and $sim 300$ K were measured on an oriented mosaic of single crystals of CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ . The data indicate that CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ is a well formed compound with narrow spectral lines, no traces of other, Fe - containing, secondary phases in the spectra and no static magnetic order. There is no discernible feature at the superconducting transition temperature in any of the hyperfine parameters. The temperature dependence of the quadrupole splitting approximately follows the empirical $T^{3/2}$ law. The hyperfine parameters of CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ are compared with those for KFe$_2$As$_2$ measured in this work, and the literature data for CaFe$_2$As$_2$, and were found to be in between those for these two, ordered, 122 compounds, in agreement with the gross view of CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ as a structural analog of KFe$_2$As$_2$ and CaFe$_2$As$_2$ that has alternating Ca - and K - layers in the structure.
We report synthesis, crystal structure and physical properties of a quinary iron-arsenide fluoride KCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$. The new compound crystallizes in a body-centered tetragonal lattice (with space group $I4/mmm$, $a$ = 3.8684(2) {AA}, c = 31.007(1) {AA}, and $Z$ = 2), which contains double Fe$_2$As$_2$ conducting layers separated by insulating Ca$_2$F$_2$ layers. Our measurements of electrical resistivity, dc magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity demonstrate bulk superconductivity at 33 K in KCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$.
We report resistance and elastoresistance measurements on (Ba$_{0.5}$K$_{0.5}$)Fe$_2$As$_2$, CaKFe$_4$As$_4$, and KCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$. The Fe-site symmetry is $D_{2d}$ in the first compound but $C_{2v}$ in the latter two, which lifts the degeneracy of the Fe $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals. The temperature dependence of the resistance and elastoresistance is similar between the three compounds. Especially, the [110] elastoresistance is enhanced with decreasing temperature irrespective of the Fe-site symmetry. This appears to be in conflict with recent Raman scattering studies on CaKFe$_4$As$_4$, which suggest the absence of nematic fluctuations. We consider possible ways of reconciliation and suggest that the present result is important in elucidating the origin of in-plane resistivity anisotropy in iron-based superconductors.
Recently, An electron-doped 12442-type iron-based superconductor BaTh$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$(N$_{0.7}$O$_{0.3}$)$_2$ has been successfully synthesized with high-temperature solid-state reactions on basis of a structural design. The inter-block-layer charge transfer between the constituent units of BaFe$_2$As$_2$ and ThFeAsN$_{0.7}$O$_{0.3}$ was found to be essential to stabilize the target compound. Dominant electron-type conduction and bulk superconducting transition at ~22 K were demonstrated.
High-quality K(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ single crystals have been grown by using KAs flux method. Instead of increasing the superconducting transition temperature $T_{rm c}$ through electron doping, we find that Co impurities rapidly suppress $T_{rm c}$ down to zero at only $x approx$ 0.04. Such an effective suppression of $T_{rm c}$ by impurities is quite different from that observed in Ba$_{0.5}$K$_{0.5}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ with multiple nodeless superconducting gaps. Thermal conductivity measurements in zero field show that the residual linear term $kappa_0/T$ only change slightly with $3.4%$ Co doping, despite the sharp increase of scattering rate. The implications of these anomalous impurity effects are discussed.
We find evidence that the newly discovered Fe-based superconductor KCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$ ($T_c~=~33.36(7)$~K) displays multigap superconductivity with line nodes. Transverse field muon spin rotation ($mu$SR) measurements show that the temperature dependence of the superfluid density does not have the expected behavior of a fully-gapped superconductor, due to the lack of saturation at low temperatures. Moreover, the data cannot be well fitted using either single band models or a multiband $s$-wave model, yet are well described by two-gap models with line nodes on either one or both of the gaps. Meanwhile the zero-field $mu$SR results indicate a lack of time reversal symmetry breaking in the superconducting state, but suggest the presence of magnetic fluctuations. These results demonstrate a different route for realizing nodal superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. Here the gap structure is drastically altered upon replacing one of the spacer layers, indicating the need to understand how the pairing state is tuned by changes of the asymmetry between the pnictogens located either side of the Fe planes.