No Arabic abstract
We report on the synthesis and superconductivity of high-entropy-alloy-type (HEA-type) compounds TrZr2 (Tr = Fe, Co, Ni, Rh, Ir), in which the Tr site satisfies the criterion of HEA. Polycrystalline samples of HEA-type TrZr2 with four different compositions at the Tr site were synthesized by arc melting method. The phase purity and crystal structure were examined by Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction profile. It has been confirmed that the obtained samples have a CuAl2-type tetragonal structure. From analyses of elemental composition and mixing entropy at the Tr site, the HEA state for the Tr site was confirmed. The physical properties of obtained samples were characterized by electrical resistivity and magnetization measurements. All the samples show bulk superconductivity with various transition temperature (Tc). The Tc varied according to the compositions and showed correlations with the lattice constant c and Tr-Zr bond lengths. Introduction of an HEA site in TrZr2 is useful to achieve systematic tuning of Tc with a wide temperature range, which would be a merit for superconductivity application.
Research on high-entropy-alloy (HEA) superconductors is a growing field in material science. In this study, we explored new HEA-type superconductors and discovered a CuAl2-type superconductor Co0.2Ni0.1Cu0.1Rh0.3Ir0.3Zr2 with a HEA-type transition metal site. A superconducting transition was observed at 8.0 K after electrical resistivity, magnetization, and specific heat measurements. The bulk characteristics of the superconductivity were confirmed through the specific heat measurements. The discovery of superconductivity in HEA-type Co0.2Ni0.1Cu0.1Rh0.3Ir0.3Zr2 will provide a novel pathway to explore new HEA-type superconductors and investigate the relationship between the mixing entropy and superconductivity of HEA-type compounds.
Studies on high-entropy alloy (HEA) superconductors have recently been increasing, particularly in the fields of materials science and condensed matter physics. To contribute to research on new HEA-type superconductors, in our study we synthesized polycrystalline samples of A15-type superconductors of Nb3Al0.2Sn0.2Ge0.2Ga0.2Si0.2 (#1) and Nb3Al0.3Sn0.3Ge0.2Ga0.1Si0.1 (#2) with an HEA-type site by arc melting. Elemental and structural analyses revealed that the compositions of the obtained samples satisfied the HEA state criteria. Superconducting transitions were observed at 9.0 and 11.0 K for #1 and #2, respectively, in the temperature dependence of magnetization and electrical resistivity. Specific heat measurements revealed that the Sommerfeld coefficient, Debye temperature, and {Delta}C/{gamma}Tc for the obtained samples were close to those reported for conventional Nb3Sn family superconductors.
we were able to develop a novel method to synthesize Fe-based oxypnictide superconductors. By using LnAs and FeO as the starting materials and a ball-milling process prior to solid-state sintering, Tc as high as 50.7 K was obtained with the sample of Sm 0.85Nd0.15FeAsO0.85F0.15 prepared by sintering at temperatures as low as 1173 K for times as short as 20 min.
Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale topological spin structures offering great promise for next-generation information storage technologies. The recent discovery of sub-100 nm room temperature (RT) skyrmions in several multilayer films has triggered vigorous efforts to modulate their physical properties for their use in devices. Here we present a tunable RT skyrmion platform based on multilayer stacks of Ir/Fe/Co/Pt, which we study using X-ray microscopy, magnetic force microscopy and Hall transport techniques. By varying the ferromagnetic layer composition, we can tailor the magnetic interactions governing skyrmion properties, thereby tuning their thermodynamic stability parameter by an order of magnitude. The skyrmions exhibit a smooth crossover between isolated (metastable) and disordered lattice configurations across samples, while their size and density can be tuned by factors of 2 and 10 respectively. We thus establish a platform for investigating functional sub-50 nm RT skyrmions, pointing towards the development of skyrmion-based memory devices.
We predict Co-based chalcogenides with a diamond-like structure can host unconventional high temperature superconductivity (high-$T_c$). The essential electronic physics in these materials stems from the Co layers with each layer being formed by vertex-shared CoA$_4$ (A=S,Se,Te) tetrahedra complexes, a material genome proposed recently by us to host potential unconventional high-$T_c$ close to a $d^7$ filling configuration in 3d transition metal compounds. We calculate the magnetic ground states of different transition metal compounds with this structure. It is found that (Mn,Fe,Co)-based compounds all have a G-type antiferromagnetic(AFM) insulating ground state while Ni-based compounds are paramagnetic metal. The AFM interaction is the largest in the Co-based compounds as the three $t_{2g}$ orbitals all strongly participate in AFM superexchange interactions. The abrupt quenching of the magnetism from the Co to Ni-based compounds is very similar to those from Fe to Co-based pnictides in which a C-type AFM state appears in the Fe-based ones but vanishes in the Co-based ones. This behavior can be considered as an electronic signature of the high-$T_c$ gene. Upon doping, as we predicted before, this family of Co-based compounds favor a strong d-wave pairing superconducting state.