No Arabic abstract
Superconducting joints are essential for iron-based superconductors applications in future. In this study, a process for fabricating superconducting joints between Sr1-xKxFe2As2 (Sr-122) tapes is developed for the first time. The Ag sheath was peeled off from one side of each sample. The exposed superconducting parts of the two tapes were joined and wrapped again with Ag foil. The diffusion bonding of the iron-based superconducting joint was achieved by hot-pressing process in Argon atmosphere. The superconducting properties, microstructures and the elements distribution of the joint regions had been investigated. The pressure and pressing times were optimized in order to enhance the transport current of the joints. At 4.2 K and 10 T, a transport critical current Ic of 57 A for the joint was obtained, which is approximately 63.3% of the current capacity of the tapes themselves. Furthermore, the joint resistances dV/dI were estimated from the V-I curve of the joints and the calculated joint resistances values are below 10^-9 Ohm. These results demonstrate that the hot pressing was useful for fabricating the superconducting joint samples.
The high upper critical field characteristic of the recently discovered iron-based superconducting chalcogenides opens the possibility of developing a new type of non-oxide high-field superconducting wires. In this work, we utilize a buffered metal template on which we grow a textured FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$ layer, an approach developed originally for high temperature superconducting coated conductors. These tapes carry high critical current densities (>1$times10^{4}$A/cm$^{2}$) at about 4.2K under magnetic field as high as 25 T, which are nearly isotropic to the field direction. This demonstrates a very promising future for iron chalcogenides for high field applications at liquid helium temperatures. Flux pinning force analysis indicates a point defect pinning mechanism, creating prospects for a straightforward approach to conductor optimization.
Both DC and AC magnetization measurements were performed on the NdFeAsO0.88F0.12 superconductor to investigate the influence of magnetism on the superconducting properties of this system. The crossover of the ZFC and FC magnetic susceptibility curves under 7.5KOe was observed. The imaginary component of the first harmonics of the AC magnetic susceptibility, increases with the increasing DC field below 10K and shows frequency dependency under 7.5KOe at low temperature. The paramagnetism of Nd3+ ions tilts the magnetic hysteresis loops and broadens the hysteresis width. After correction for the paramagnetism, the field and temperature dependence of intrinsic Jcm was obtained and compared with the experimentally obtained total Jcm. The origin of the abnormal behavior of magnetization was investigated and attributed to a magnetic background, which was speculated to be caused by the spin-glass state. However, this magnetic background does not affect the flux pinning properties in this sample. The related mechanism was discussed.
The nematic electronic state and its associated nematic critical fluctuations have emerged as potential candidates for superconducting pairing in various unconventional superconductors. However, in most materials their coexistence with other magnetically-ordered phases poses significant challenges in establishing their importance. Here, by combining chemical and hydrostatic physical pressure in FeSe$_{0.89}$S$_{0.11}$, we provide a unique access to a clean nematic quantum phase transition in the absence of a long-range magnetic order. We find that in the proximity of the nematic phase transition, there is an unusual non-Fermi liquid behavior in resistivity at high temperatures that evolves into a Fermi liquid behaviour at the lowest temperatures. From quantum oscillations in high magnetic fields, we trace the evolution of the Fermi surface and electronic correlations as a function of applied pressure. We detect experimentally a Lifshitz transition that separates two distinct superconducting regions: one emerging from the nematic electronic phase with a small Fermi surface and strong electronic correlations and the other one with a large Fermi surface and weak correlations that promotes nesting and stabilization of a magnetically-ordered phase at high pressures. The lack of mass divergence suggests that the nematic critical fluctuations are quenched by the strong coupling to the lattice. This establishes that superconductivity is not enhanced at the nematic quantum phase transition in the absence of magnetic order.
The recent discovery of superconductivity in the so-called iron-oxypnictide family of compounds has generated intense interest. The layered crystal structure with transition metal ions in planar square lattice form and the discovery of spin-density-wave order near 130 K seem to hint at a strong similarity with the copper oxide superconductors. A burning current issue is the nature of the ground state of the parent compounds. Two distinct classes of theories have been put forward depending on the underlying band structures: local moment antiferromagnetic ground state for strong coupling approach and itinerant ground state for weak coupling approach. The local moment magnetism approach stresses on-site correlations and proximity to a Mott insulating state and thus the resemblance to cuprates; while the latter approach emphasizes the itinerant electron physics and the interplay between the competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic fluctuations. Such a controversy is partly due to the lack of conclusive experimental information on the electronic structures. Here we report the first angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) investigation of LaOFeP (Tc = 5.9 K), the first reported iron-based superconductor. Our results favor the itinerant ground state, albeit with band renormalization. In addition, our data reveal important differences between these and copper based superconductors.
We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on Fe-based superconductor LiFeAs (Tc = 18 K). We reveal multiple nodeless superconducting (SC) gaps with 2D/kBTc ratios varying from 2.8 to 6.4, depending on the Fermi surface (FS). We also succeeded in directly observing a gap anisotropy along the FS with magnitude up to ~30 %. The anisotropy is four-fold symmetric with an antiphase between the hole and electron FSs, suggesting complex anisotropic interactions for the SC pairing. The observed momentum dependence of the SC gap offers an excellent opportunity to investigate the underlying pairing mechanism.