No Arabic abstract
We have performed polarized Raman scattering measurements on the newly discovered superconductor Ta$_{4}$Pd$_{3}$Te$_{16}$ ($T_c = 4.6$ K). We observe twenty-eight out of thirty-three Raman active modes, with frequencies in good accordance with first-principles calculations. Although most of the phonons observed vary only slightly with temperature and do not exhibit any asymmetric profile that would suggest strong electron-phonon coupling, the linewidth of the A$_{g}$ phonon mode at 89.9 cm$^{-1}$ shows an unconventional increase with temperature decreasing, which is possibly due to a charge-density-wave transition or the emergence of charge-density-wave fluctuations below a temperature estimated to fall in the 140-200 K range.
We report $^{125}$Te nuclear magnetic resonance and $^{181}$Ta nuclear quadrupole resonance studies on single-crystal Ta$_{4}$Pd$_{3}$Te$_{16}$, which has a quasi-one-dimensional structure and superconducts below $T_{rm c}=4.3$ K. $^{181}$Ta with spin $I=7/2$ is sensitive to quadrupole interactions, while $^{125}$Te with spin $I=1/2$ can only relax by magnetic interactions. By comparing the spin-lattice relaxation rate ( $1/T_{1}$) of $^{181}$Ta and $^{125}$Te, we found that electric-field-gradient (EFG) fluctuations develop below $80$ K. The EFG fluctuations are enhanced with decreasing temperature due to the fluctuations of a charge density wave that sets in at $T_{rm CDW}=20$ K, below which the spectra are broadened and $1/T_{1}T$ drops sharply. In the superconducting state, $1/T_{1}$ shows a Hebel-Slichter coherence peak just below $T_{rm c}$ for $^{125}$Te, indicating that Ta$_{4}$Pd$_{3}$Te$_{16}$ is a full-gap superconductor without nodes in the gap function. The coherence peak is absent in the $1/T_{1}$ of $^{181}$Ta due to the strong EFG fluctuations.
We report on the quasi-linear in field intrachain magnetoresistance in the normal state of a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor Ta$_4$Pd$_3$Te$_{16}$ ($T_c$$sim$4.6 K). Both the longitudinal and transverse in-chain magnetoresistance shows a power-law dependence, $Delta rho$$propto$B$^alpha$, with the exponent $alpha$ close to 1 over a wide temperature and field range. The magnetoresistance shows no sign of saturation up to 50 tesla studied. The linear magnetoresistance observed in Ta$_4$Pd$_3$Te$_{16}$ is found to be overall inconsistent with the interpretations based on the Dirac fermions in the quantum limit, charge conductivity fluctuations as well as quantum electron-electron interference. Moreover, it is observed that the Kohlers rule, regardless of the field orientations, is violated in its normal state. This result suggests the loss of charge carriers in the normal state of this chain-containing compound, due presumably to the charge-density-wave fluctuations.
We study the intrinsic transport anisotropy and fermiology of the quasi one-dimensional superconductor Ta$_4$Pd$_3$Te$_{16}$. Below $T^*=20$ K we detect a thermodynamic phase transition that predominantly affects the conductivity perpendicular to the quasi one-dimensional chains, consistent with a thermodynamic transition related to the presence of charge order that precedes superconductivity. Remarkably the Fermi surface pockets detected by de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations are unaffected by this transition, suggesting that the ordered state does not break any translational symmetries but rather alters the scattering of the quasiparticles themselves.
We report $^{75}$As NMR measurements on the new quasi one-dimensional superconductor K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ ($T_{c} sim 6.1$~K) [J. K. Bao et al., Phys. Rev. X {bf 5}, 011013 (2015)]. We found evidence for strong enhancement of Cr spin fluctuations above $T_c$ in the [Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$]$_{infty}$ double-walled subnano-tubes based on the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_{1}$. The power law temperature dependence, $1/T_{1}T sim T^{-gamma}$ ($gamma sim 0.25$), is consistent with the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. Moreover, absence of the Hebel-Slichter coherence peak of $1/T_{1}$ just below $T_{c}$ suggests unconventional nature of superconductivity.
We present measurements of superconducting transition temperature, resistivity, magnetoresistivity and temperature dependence of the upper critical field of Ta$_4$Pd$_3$Te$_{16}$ under pressures up to 16.4 kbar. All measured properties have an anomaly at $sim 2 - 4$ kbar pressure range, in particular there is a maximum in $T_c$ and upper critical field, $H_{c2}(0)$, and minimum in low temperature, normal state resistivity. Qualitatively, the data can be explained considering the density of state at the Fermi level as a dominant parameter.