No Arabic abstract
The reflectivity $R (omega)$ of $ab$-oriented Mg$_{1-x}$Al$_x$(B$_{1-y }$C$_y$)$_2$ single crystals has been measured by means of infrared microspectroscopy for $1300<omega<17000$ cm$^{-1}$. An increase with doping of the scattering rates in the $pi$ and $sigma$ bands is observed, being more pronounced in the C doped crystals. The $sigma$-band plasma frequency also changes with doping due to the electron doping, while the $pi$-band one is almost unchanged. Moreover, a $sigmatosigma$ interband excitation, predicted by theory, is observed at $omega_{IB} simeq 0.47$ eV in the undoped sample, and shifts to lower energies with doping. By performing theoretical calculation of the doping dependence $omega_{IB}$, the experimental observations can be explained with the increase with electron doping of the Fermi energy of the holes in the $sigma$-band. On the other hand, the $sigma$ band density of states seems not to change substantially. This points towards a $T_c$ reduction driven mainly by disorder, at least for the doping level studied here. The superconducting state has been also probed by infrared synchrotron radiation for $30<omega<150$ cm$^{-1}$ in one pure and one C-doped sample. In the undoped sample ($T_c$ = 38.5 K) a signature of the $pi$-gap only is observed. At $y$ = 0.08 ($T_c$ = 31.9 K), the presence of the contribution of the $sigma$-gap indicates dirty-limit superconductivity in both bands.
We have synthesized bulk Mg(B$_{1-x}$C$_x$)$_2$ from a mixture of elemental Mg, B, and the binary compound B$_4$C. Carbon incorporation was dramatically improved by a two step reaction process at an elevated temperature of 1200 $^o$C. This reaction process results in a solubility limit near x$sim$0.07. We found that impurities in the starting B cause an additive suppression of T$_c$. We combine these data with T$_c$ and H$_{c2}$(T=0) data from CVD wires as well as plasma spray synthesized powders and present a unifying H$_{c2}$ and T$_c$ versus x plot.
We report the achieving of depairing current limit along $c$-axis in Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ single crystals. A series of crystals with $T_{rm{c}}$ ranging from 8.6 K to 13.7 K (different amount of excess Fe, $y$) were fabricated into $c$-axis bridges with a square-micrometer cross-section. The critical current density, $J_{rm{c}}$, was directly estimated from the transport current-voltage measurements. The transport $J_{rm{c}}$ reaches a very large value, which is about one order of magnitude larger than the depinning $J_{rm{c}}$, but comparable to the calculated depairing $J_{rm{c}}$ $sim$ 2 $times$ 10$^6$ A/cm$^2$ at 0 K, based on the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory. The temperature dependence of the depairing $J_{rm{c}}$ follows the GL-theory ($propto$ (1-$T/T_{rm{c}}$)$^{3/2}$) down to $sim$ 0.83 $T_{rm{c}}$, then increases with a reduced slope at low temperatures, which can be qualitatively described by the Kupriyanov-Lukichev theory. Our study provides a new route to understand the behavior of depairing $J_{rm{c}}$ in iron-based superconductors in a wide temperature range.
Single crystals of Fe(1+x)Te(1-y)Se(y) have been grown with a controlled Fe excess and Se doping, and the crystal structure has been refined for various compositions. The systematic investigation of magnetic and superconducting properties as a function of the structural parameters shows how the material can be driven into various ground states, depending on doping and the structural modifications. Our results prove that the occupation of the additional Fe site, Fe2, enhances the spin localization. By reducing the excess Fe, the antiferromagnetic ordering is weakened, and the superconducting ground state is favored. We have found that both Fe excess and Se doping in synergy determine the properties of the material and an improved 3-dimensional phase diagram is proposed.
Superconductivity (SC) with the suppression of long-range antiferromagnetic (AFM) order is observed in the parent compounds of both iron-based and cuprate superconductors. The AFM wave vectors are bicollinear ($pi$, 0) in the parent compound FeTe different from the collinear AFM order ($pi$, $pi$) in most iron pnictides. Study of the phase diagram of Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ is the most direct way to investigate the competition between bicollinear AFM and SC. However, presence of interstitial Fe affects both magnetism and SC of Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_x$, which hinders the establishment of the real phase diagram. Here, we report the comparison of doping-temperature ($x$-$T$) phase diagrams for Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ (0 $leq$ $x$ $leq$ 0.43) single crystals before and after removing interstitial Fe. Without interstitial Fe, the AFM state survives only for $x$ $<$ 0.05, and bulk SC emerges from $x$ = 0.05, and does not coexist with the AFM state. The previously reported spin glass state, and the coexistence of AFM and SC may be originated from the effect of the interstitial Fe. The phase diagram of Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ is found to be similar to the case of the 1111 system such as LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$, and is different from that of the 122 system.
Polarization-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the B 1s edge of single-crystalline Mg(x)Al(1-x)B(2) reveals a strongly anisotropic electronic structure near the Fermi energy. Comparing spectra for superconducting compounds (x=0.9, 1.0) with those for the non-superconductor x=0.0 gives direct evidence on the importance of an in-plane spectral feature crossing E_F for the superconducting properties of the diborides. Good agreement is found with the projected B 2p density of states from LDA band structure calculations.