No Arabic abstract
The single-crystal growth, stoichiometry, and structure of Rb1-xFe2-ySe2-zSz crystals with substitution of Se by S are reported. The variation of the magnetic and thermodynamic parameters of samples was studied by differential-scanning calorimetry, magnetic susceptibility, conductivity, and specific heat. The experimental results are discussed within a T-z phase diagram, which includes vacancy-ordered and vacancy-disordered antiferromagnetic (AFM), superconducting (SC), and non-superconducting phases. The structural study revealed change in the local environment of the Fe tetrahedrons depending on substitution: a reduction of the Fe-Fe and Fe-Ch(chalcogen) bond lengths and a tendency for the six out of eight bond angles to approach values for a regular tetrahedron suggesting a reduction of structural distortions with substitution. With increasing substitution, a lowering of the superconducting transition temperature Tc was observed; the percolation threshold for the SC state is located at the substitution z = 1.2. The SC state was found to coexist with the AFM state that persists in all samples independent of substitution. The temperature of the transition into the AFM state TN shows a monotonous decrease indicating a weakening of the AFM interactions with increasing substitution. The AFM phase exhibits an iron-vacancy-ordered structure below the structural transition at Ts. The temperature Ts shows a non-monotonous variation: a decrease with increasing z up to 1.3, followed by an increase for further increasing z. The suppression of the superconductivity with substitution is accompanied by a significant reduction of the density of states at the Fermi energy and a weakening of the electronic correlations in the studied system.
Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) reveals the features of the electronic structure of quasi-two-dimensional crystals, which are crucial for the formation of spin and charge ordering and determine the mechanisms of electron-electron interaction, including the superconducting pairing. The newly discovered iron based superconductors (FeSC) promise interesting physics that stems, on one hand, from a coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism and, on the other hand, from complex multi-band electronic structure. In this review I want to give a simple introduction to the FeSC physics, and to advocate an opinion that all the complexity of FeSC properties is encapsulated in their electronic structure. For many compounds, this structure was determined in numerous ARPES experiments and agrees reasonably well with the results of band structure calculations. Nevertheless, the existing small differences may help to understand the mechanisms of the magnetic ordering and superconducting pairing in FeSC.
The electronic structure of the newly discovered superconducting perovskite MgCNi$_3$ is calculated using the LMTO and KKR methods. The states near the Fermi energy are found to be dominated by Ni-d. The Stoner factor is low while the electron-phonon coupling constant is estimated to be about 0.7, which suggests that the material is a conventional type of superconductor where T$_C$ is not affected by magnetic interactions. However, the proximity of the Fermi energy to a large peak in the density of states in conjunction with the reported non-stoichiometry of the compound, has consequences for the stability of the results.
The layered iron superconductors are discussed using electronic structure calculations. The four families of compounds discovered so far, including Fe(Se,Te) have closely related electronic structures. The Fermi surface consists of disconnected hole and electron cylinders and additional hole sections that depend on the specific material. This places the materials in proximity to itinerant magnetism, both due to the high density of states and due to nesting. Comparison of density functional results and experiment provides strong evidence for itinerant spin fluctuations, which are discussed in relation to superconductivity. It is proposed that the intermediate phase between the structural transition and the SDW transition in the oxy-pnictides is a nematic phase.
High-quality single crystals of K0.8Fe2Se1.4S0.4 are successfully synthesized by self-flux method with the superconducting transition temperatures Tconset = 32.8 K and Tczero = 31.2 K. In contrast to external pressure effect on superconductivity, the substitution of S for Se does not suppress Tc, which suggests that chemical doping may mainly modulate the anion height from Fe-layer rather than compressing interlayer distance. The investigation of the micromagnetism by electron spin resonance shows clear evidence for strong spin fluctuation at temperatures above Tc. Accompanied by the superconducting feature spectra, a novel resonance signal develops gradually upon cooling below Tc, indicating the coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in K0.8Fe2Se1.4S0.4 crystal.
Using muon-spin rotation, we studied the in-plane (lambda_ab) and the out of plane (lambda_c) magnetic field penetration depth in SrFe_1.75Co_0.25As_2 (T_c=13.3 K). Both lambda_ab(T) and lambda_c(T) are consistent with the presence of two superconducting gaps with the gap to T_c ratios 2Delta/k_BT_c=7.2 and 2.7. The penetration depth anisotropy gamma_lambda=lambda_c/lambda_ab increases from gamma_lambda=2.1 at T_c to 2.7 at 1.6 K. The mean internal field in the superconducting state increases with decreasing temperature, just opposite to the diamagnetic response seen in magnetization experiments. This unusual behavior suggests that the external field induces a magnetic order which is maintained throughout the whole sample volume.