No Arabic abstract
We have investigated the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity of PdTe2 and 4% Cu intercalated PdTe2 compounds. Electrical resistivity for the compounds shows Bloch-Gruneisen type linear temperature (T) dependence for 100 K < T < 480 K, and Fermi liquid behavior (~ T^2) below 50 K. Seebeck coefficient data exhibit strong competition between Normal (N) and Umklapp (U) scattering processes at low T. Though our results indicate the transfer of charge carriers to PdTe2 upon Cu intercalation, it is difficult to discern any change in the Fermi surface of the compound by Nordheim-Gorter plots. The estimated Fermi energies of the compounds are quite comparable to good metals Cu, Ag and Au. The low T, thermal conductivity (k) of the compounds is strongly dominated by the electronic contribution, and exhibits a rare linear T dependence below 10 K. However, high T, k(T) shows usual 1/T dependence, dominated by U scattering process. The electron phonon coupling parameters, estimated from the low T, specific heat data and first principle electronic structure calculations suggest that PdTe2 and Cu0.04PdTe2 are intermediately coupled superconductors.
The electronic and magnetic properties of the new hydride superconductor CaFeAsH, which superconducts up to 47 K when electron-doped with La, and the isovalent alloy system CaFeAsH$_{1-x}$F$_x$ are investigated using density functional based methods. The $vec Q = (pi,pi,0)$ peak of the nesting function $xi(vec q)$ is found to be extremely strong and sharp, and additional structure in $xi(vec q)$ associated with the near-circular Fermi surfaces (FSs) that may impact low energy excitations is quantified. The unusual band introduced by H, which shows strong dispersion perpendicular to the FeAs layers, is shown to be connected to a peculiar van Hove singularity just below the Fermi level. This band provides a three dimensional electron ellipsoid Fermi surface not present in other Fe-based superconducting materials nor in CaFeAsF. Electron doping by 25% La or Co has minor affect on this ellipsoid Fermi surface, but suppresses FS nesting strongly, consistent with the viewpoint that eliminating strong nesting and the associated magnetic order allows high T$_c$ superconductivity to emerge. Various aspects of the isovalent alloy system CaFeAsH$_{1-x}$F$_x$ and means of electron doping are discussed in terms of influence of incipient bands.
Resistivity and specific heat measurements were performed in the low carrier unconventional superconductor URu2Si2 on various samples with very different qualities. The superconducting transition temperature (TSC) and the hidden order transition temperature (THO) of these crystals were evaluated as a function of the residual resistivity ratio (RRR). In high quality single crystals the resistivity does not seem to follow a T2 dependence above TSC, indicating that the Fermi liquid regime is restricted to low temperatures. However, an analysis of the isothermal longitudinal magnetoresistivity points out that the T2 dependence may be spoiled by residual inhomogeneous superconducting contribution. We discuss a possible scenario concerning the distribution of TSC related with the fact that the hidden order phase is very sensitive to the pressure inhomogeneity.
A technique for measuring the electrical resistivity and absolute thermopower is presented for pressures up to 30 GPa, temperatures down to 25 mK and magnetic fields up to 10 T. With the examples of CeCu2Ge2 and CeCu2Si2 we focus on the interplay of normal phase and superconducting properties. With increasing pres- sure, the behaviour of CeCu2Ge2 evolves from that of an antiferromagnetically ordered Kondo system to that characteristic of an intermediate valence compound as the Kondo temperature increases by about two orders of magnitude. In the pressure window 8-10 < P < 20 GPa, a superconducting phase occurs which com- petes at low pressure with magnetic ordering. For CeCu2Si2 the effective mass of carriers is probed by both the coefficient of the Fermi liquid law and the ini- tial slope of the upper critical field. The magnetic instability is studied no- tably for CeRu2Ge2 and Yb-based compounds for which pressure-induced magnetic ordering tends to develop. Finally, contrary to conventional wisdom, we argue that in heavy fermions a large part of the residual resistivity is most likely not independent of temperature; tentatively ascribed to Kondo hole, it can be very pressure as well as sample dependent. [electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, heavy fermion, magnetic order, superconductivity]
Charge order in cuprate superconductors is a possible source of anomalous electronic properties in the underdoped regime. Intra-unit cell charge ordering tendencies point to electronic nematic order involving oxygen orbitals. In this context we investigate charge instabilities in the Emery model and calculate the charge susceptibility within diagrammatic perturbation theory. In this approach, the onset of charge order is signalled by a divergence of the susceptibility. Our calculations reveal three different kinds of order: a commensurate ($q=0$) nematic order, and two incommensurate nematic phases with modulation wavevectors that are either axial or oriented along the Brillouin zone diagonal. We examine the nematic phase diagram as a function of the filling, the interaction parameters, and the band structure. We also present results for the excitation spectrum near the nematic instability, and show that a soft nematic mode emerges from the particle-hole continuum at the transition. The Fermi surface reconstructions that accompany the modulated nematic phases are discussed with respect to their relevance for magneto-oscillation and photoemission measurements. The modulated nematic phases that emerge from the three-band Emery model are compared to those found previously in one-band models.
The Coulomb repulsion, impeding electrons motion, has an important impact on the charge dynamics. It mainly causes a reduction of the effective metallic Drude weight (proportional to the so-called optical kinetic energy), encountered in the optical conductivity, with respect to the expectation within the nearly-free electron limit (defining the so-called band kinetic energy), as evinced from band-structure theory. In principle, the ratio between the optical and band kinetic energy allows defining the degree of electronic correlations. Through spectral weight arguments based on the excitation spectrum, we provide an experimental tool, free from any theoretical or band-structure based assumptions, in order to estimate the degree of electronic correlations in several systems. We first address the novel iron-pnictide superconductors, which serve to set the stage for our approach. We then revisit a large variety of materials, ranging from superconductors, to Kondo-like systems as well as materials close to the Mott-insulating state. As comparison we also tackle materials, where the electron-phonon coupling dominates. We establish a direct relationship between the strength of interaction and the resulting reduction of the optical kinetic energy of the itinerant charge carriers.