No Arabic abstract
We report the synthesis and physical properties of single crystals of stoichiometric BaNi2As2 that crystalizes in the ThCr2Si2 structure with lattice parameters a = 4.112(4) AA and c = 11.54(2) AA. Resistivity and heat capacity show a first order phase transition at T_0 = 130 K with a thermal hysteresis of 7 K. The Hall coefficient is weakly temperature dependent from room temperature to 2 K where it has a value of -4x10^{-10} Omega-cm/Oe. Resistivity, ac-susceptibility, and heat capacity find evidence for bulk superconductivity at T_c = 0.7 K. The Sommerfeld coefficient at T_c is 11.6 pm 0.9 mJ/molK^2. The upper critical field is anisotropic with initial slopes of dH_{c2}^{c}/dT = -0.19 T/K and dH_{c2}^{ab}/dT = -0.40 T/K, as determined by resistivity.
The electrical resistivity rho(T) and heat capacity C(T) on single crystals of SrNi2As2 and EuNi2As2 are reported. While there is no evidence for a structural transition in either compound, SrNi2As2 is found to be a bulk superconductor at T_c=0.62 K with a Sommerfeld coefficient of gamma= 8.7 mJ/mol K^2 and a small upper critical field H_{c2} sim 200 Oe. No superconductivity was found in EuNi2As2 above 0.4 K, but anomalies in rho and C reveal that magnetic order associated with the Eu^{2+} magnetic moments occurs at T_m = 14 K.
We investigated the magnetic field dependence of the superconducting phase transition in heavy fermion CeCoIn_5 (T_c = 2.3 K) using specific heat, magneto-caloric effect, and thermal expansion measurements. The superconducting transition becomes first order when the magnetic field is oriented along the 001 crystallographic direction with a strength greater that 4.7 T, and transition temperature below T_0 ~ 0.31 T_c. The change from second order at lower fields is reflected in strong sharpening of both specific heat and thermal expansion anomalies associated with the phase transition, a strong magnetocaloric effect, and a step-like change in the sample volume. The first order superconducting phase transition in CeCoIn_5 is caused by Pauli limiting in type-II superconductors, and was predicted theoretically in the mid 1960s. We do not see evidence for the inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superconducting state (predicted by an alternative theory also dating back to mid-60s) in CeCoIn_5 with field H || [001].
We have performed low-temperature specific heat $C$ and thermal conductivity $kappa$ measurements on the Ni-pnictide superconductors BaNi$_2$As$_2$ ($T_mathrm{c}$=0.7 K and SrNi$_2$P$_2$ ($T_mathrm{c}$=1.4 K). The temperature dependences $C(T)$ and $kappa(T)$ of the two compounds are similar to the results of a number of s-wave superconductors. Furthermore, the concave field responses of the residual $kappa$ for BaNi$_2$As$_2$ rules out the presence of nodes on the Fermi surfaces. We postulate that fully gapped superconductivity could be universal for Ni-pnictide superconductors. Specific heat data on Ba$_{0.6}$La$_{0.4}$Ni$_2$As$_2$ shows a mild suppression of $T_mathrm{c}$ and $H_mathrm{c2}$ relative to BaNi$_2$As$_2$.
Single crystals of SrFe2-xPtxAs2 (0 < x < 0.36) were grown using the self flux solution method and characterized using x-ray crystallography, electrical transport, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements. The magnetic/structural transition is suppressed with increasing Pt concentration, with superconductivity seen over the range 0.08 < x < 0.36 with a maximum transition temperature Tc of 16 K at x = 0.16. The shape of the phase diagram and the changes to the lattice parameters are similar to the effects of other group VIII elements Ni and Pd, however the higher transition temperature and extended range of superconductivity suggest some complexity beyond the simple electron counting picture that has been discussed thus far.
We have studied the intrinsic normal and superconducting properties of the oxypnictide LaFePO. These samples exhibit bulk superconductivity and the evidence suggests that stoichiometric LaFePO is indeed superconducting, in contrast to other reports. We find that superconductivity is independent of the interplane residual resistivity $rho_0$ and discuss the implications of this on the nature of the superconducting order parameter. Finally we find that, unlike $T_c$, other properties in single-crystal LaFePO including the resistivity and magnetoresistance, can be very sensitive to disorder.