No Arabic abstract
Superconductivity in crystals without inversion symmetry has received extensive attention due to its unconventional pairing and possible nontrivial topological properties. Using first-principles calculations, we systemically study the electronic structure of noncentrosymmetric superconductors $A_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ ($A$=Na, K, Rb and Cs). Topologically protected triply degenerate points connected by one-dimensional arcs appear along the $C_{3}$ axis, coexisting with strong ferromagnetic (FM) fluctuations in the non-superconducting state. Within random phase approximation, our calculations show that strong enhancements of spin fluctuations are present in K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ and Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$, and are substantially reduced in Na$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ and Cs$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. Symmetry analysis of spin-orbit coupling $g_{k}$ suggests that the arc surface states might remain stable in the superconducting state, giving rise to possible nontrivial topological properties.
Following the discovery of superconductivity in quasi-one-dimensional K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ containing [(Cr$_3$As$_3$)$^{2-}$]$_{infty}$ chains [J. K. Bao et al., arXiv: 1412.0067 (2014)], we succeeded in synthesizing an analogous compound, Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$, which also crystallizes in a hexagonal lattice. The replacement of K by Rb results in an expansion of $a$ axis by 3%, indicating a weaker interchain coupling in Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. Bulk superconductivity emerges at 4.8 K, above which the normal-state resistivity shows a linear temperature dependence up to 35 K. The estimated upper critical field at zero temperature exceeds the Pauli paramagnetic limit by a factor of two. Furthermore, the electronic specific-heat coefficient extrapolated to zero temperature in the mixed state increases with $sqrt{H}$, suggesting existence of nodes in the superconducting energy gap. Hence Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ manifests itself as another example of unconventional superconductor in the Cr$_3$As$_3$-chain based system.
We report the first-principles study on the H-intercalated Cr-based superconductor KCr$_3$As$_3$H$_x$. Our results show a paramagnetic ground state for KCr$_3$As$_3$H. The electronic structure consists of two quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) Fermi-surfaces and one 3D Fermi-surface which are mainly contributed by Cr-d$_{z^2}$, d$_{x^2-y^2}$ and d$_{xy}$ orbitals. The bare electron susceptibility shows a $Gamma$-centered imaginary peak, indicating possible ferromagnetic spin fluctuations. Upon moderate hole doping, the system undergoes a Lifshitz transition, which may enhance the Q1D feature of the system. The Bader charge analysis and electron localization functions reveal a strong bonding nature of hydrogen in KCr$_3$As$_3$H, which results in a nontrivial electron doping in KCr$_3$As$_3$H.
I study the lattice dynamics and electron-phonon coupling in non-centrosymmetric quasi-one-dimensional K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ using density functional theory based first principles calculations. The phonon dispersions show stable phonons without any soft-mode behavior. They also exhibit features that point to a strong interaction of K atoms with the lattice. I find that the calculated Eliashberg spectral function shows a large enhancement around 50 cm$^{-1}$. The phonon modes that show large coupling involve in-plane motions of all three species of atoms. The $mathbf{q}$ dependent electron-phonon coupling decreases strongly away from the $q_z = 0$ plane. The total electron-phonon coupling is large with a value of $lambda_{textrm{ep}} = 3.0$, which readily explains the experimentally observed large mass enhancement.
We report $^{133}$Cs NMR and $^{75}$As Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) measurements on the normal metallic state above $T_c$ of a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor Cs$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ ($T_c < 1.6$~K). From the $^{133}$Cs NMR Knight shift $^{133}K$ measured at the Cs1 site, we show that the uniform spin susceptibility $chi_{spin}$ increases from 295~K to $sim$ 60~K, followed by a mild suppression; $chi_{spin}$ then levels off below $sim$10~K. In contrast, a vanishingly small magnitude of $^{133}K$ indicates that Cs2 sites contribute very little to electrical conduction and the exchange interactions between 3d electrons at Cr sites. Low frequency Cr spin dynamics, reflected on $^{75}$As $1/T_1T$ (the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ divided by temperature $T$), shows an analogous trend as $chi_{spin}$. Comparison with the results of $1/T_1T$ near $T_c$ with Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ ($T_c=6.1$~K) and Rb$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ ($T_c=4.8$~K) establishes a systematic trend that substitution of K$^{+}$ ions with larger alkali ions progressively suppresses Cr spin fluctuations together with $T_c$.
Impurity scattering in a superconductor may serve as an important probe for the nature of superconducting pairing state. Here we report the impurity effect on superconducting transition temperature $T_mathrm{c}$ in the newly discovered Cr-based superconductor K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. The resistivity measurements show that the crystals prepared using high-purity Cr metal ($geq$99.99%) have an electron mean free path much larger than the superconducting coherence length. For the crystals prepared using impure Cr that contains various emph{nonmagnetic} impurities, however, the $T_mathrm{c}$ decreases significantly, in accordance with the generalized Abrikosov-Gorkov pair-breaking theory. This finding supports a non-$s$-wave superconductivity in K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$.