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Register a new userUnconventional bulk superconductivity in YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ single crystals
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Using a new horizontal flux growth technique to produce high quality crystals of the unconventional superconductor YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ has led to a seven-fold reduction in disorder scattering, resulting in mm-sized crystals with residual resistivities $simeq SI{0.45}{microohmcentimeter}$, resistivity ratios $simeq 430$ and sharp superconducting heat capacity anomalies. This enables searching multi-probe experiments investigating the normal and superconducting states of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$. Low temperature heat capacity measurements suggest a significant residual Sommerfeld coefficient, consistent with in-gap states induced by residual disorder as predicted for a sign-changing order parameter.
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Since the discovery of superconductivity in LaFePO in 2006, numerous iron-based superconductors have been identified within diverse structure families, all of which combine iron with a group-V (pnictogen) or group-VI (chalco- gen) element. Unconventional superconductivity is extremely rare among transition metal compounds outside these layered iron systems and the cuprates, and it is almost universally associated with highly anisotropic electronic properties and nearly 2D Fermi surface geometries. The iron-based intermetallic YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ features a 3D Fermi surface and a strongly enhanced low temperature heat capacity, which signals strong electronic correlations. We present data from a new generation of high quality samples of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$, which show superconducting transition anomalies below 1.8 K in thermodynamic as well as transport measurements, establishing that superconductivity is intrinsic in this layered iron compound outside the known superconducting iron pnictide or chalcogenide families. The Fermi surface geometry of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ resembles that of KFe$_2$As$_2$ in the high pressure collapsed tetragonal phase, in which superconductivity at temperatures as high as 10 K has recently been reported, suggesting an underlying connection between the two systems.
We investigated the occurrence and nature of superconductivity in single crystals of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ grown out of Sn flux by employing x-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity, and specific heat measurements. We found that the residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of single crystals can be greatly improved, reaching as high as $sim$60, by decanting the crystals from the molten Sn at $sim$350$^circ$C and/or by annealing at temperatures between 550$^circ$C and 600$^circ$C. We found that samples with RRR $gtrsim$ 34 showed resistive signatures of superconductivity with the onset of the superconducting transition $T_capprox1.4$ K. RRR values vary between 35 and 65 with, on average, no systematic change in $T_c$ value, indicating that systematic changes in RRR do not lead to comparable changes in $T_c$. Specific heat measurements on samples that showed clear resistive signatures of a superconducting transition did not show any signature of a superconducting phase transition, which suggests that the superconductivity observed in this compound is either some sort of filamentary, strain stabilized superconductivity associated with small amounts of stressed YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ (perhaps at twin boundaries or dislocations) or is a second crystallographic phase present at levels below detection capability of conventional powder x-ray techniques.
We report neutron scattering measurements of single-crystalline YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ in the normal state, which has the same crystal structure to the 122 family of iron pnictide superconductors. YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ does not exhibit long range magnetic order, but exhibits strong spin fluctuations. Like the iron pnictides, YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ displays anisotropic stripe-type antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations at ($pi$, $0$, $pi$). More interesting, however, is the observation of strong spin fluctuations at the in-plane ferromagnetic wavevector ($0$, $0$, $pi$). These ferromagnetic spin fluctuations are isotropic in the ($H$, $K$) plane, whose intensity exceeds that of stripe spin fluctuations. Both the ferromagnetic and stripe spin fluctuations remain gapless down to the lowest measured energies. Our results naturally explain the absence of magnetic order in YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ and also imply that the ferromagnetic correlations may be a key ingredient for iron-based materials.
We present the results of a study of the vortex lattice (VL) of the nickel chalcogenide superconductor TlNi2Se2, using small angle neutron scattering. This superconductor has the same crystal symmetry as the iron arsenide materials. Previous work points to it being a two-gap superconductor, with an unknown pairing mechanism. No structural transitions in the vortex lattice are seen in the phase diagram, arguing against d-wave gap symmetry. Empirical fits of the temperature-dependence of the form factor and penetration depth rule out a simple s-wave model, supporting the presence of nodes in the gap function. The variation of the VL opening angle with field is consistent with earlier reports of of multiple gaps.
We report the measurements of anisotropic magnetization and magnetoresistance on single crystals of EuFe$_2$As$_2$, a parent compound of ferro-arsenide high-temperature superconductor. Apart from the antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin-density-wave transition at 186 K associated with Fe moments, the compound undergoes another magnetic phase transition at 19 K due to AFM ordering of Eu$^{2+}$ spins ($J=S=7/2$). The latter AFM state exhibits metamagnetic transition under magnetic fields. Upon applying magnetic field with $Hparallel c$ at 2 K, the magnetization increases linearly to 7.0 $mu_{B}$/f.u. at $mu_{0}H$=1.7 T, then keeps at this value of saturated Eu$^{2+}$ moments under higher fields. In the case of $Hparallel ab$, the magnetization increases step-like to 6.6 $mu_{B}$/f.u. with small magnetic hysteresis. A metamagnetic phase was identified with the saturated moments of 4.4 $mu_{B}$/f.u. The metamagnetic transition accompanies with negative in-plane magnetoresistance, reflecting the influence of Eu$^{2+}$ moments ordering on the electrical conduction of FeAs layers. The results were explained in terms of spin-reorientation and spin-reversal based on an $A$-type AFM structure for Eu$^{2+}$ spins. The magnetic phase diagram has been established.
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