No Arabic abstract
We have studied the superconducting phase diagram of NaHspace as a function of electronic doping, characterizing our samples both in terms of Na content $x$ and the Co valence state. Our findings are consistent with a recent report that intercalation of oxpspace ions into Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}$, together with water, act as an additional dopant indicating that Na sub-stochiometry alone does not control the electronic doping of these materials. We find a superconducting phase diagram where optimal Tcspace is achieved through a Co valence range of 3.24 - 3.35, while Tcspace decreases for materials with a higher Co valence. The critical role of dimensionality in achieving superconductivity is highlighted by similarly doped non-superconducting anhydrous samples, differing from the superconducting hydrate only in inter-layer spacing. The increase of the interlayer separation between CoO$_{2}$ sheets as Co valence is varied into the optimal Tcspace region is further evidence for this criticality.
A weak magnetic order was found in a non-superconducting bilayered-hydrate Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}cdot y$H$_{2}$O sample by a Co Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) measurement. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by temperature $1/T_1T$ shows a prominent peak at 5.5 K, below which a Co-NQR peak splits due to an internal field at the Co site. From analyses of the Co NQR spectrum at 1.5 K, the internal field is evaluated to be $sim$ 300 Oe and is in the $ab$-plane. The magnitude of the internal field suggests that the ordered moment is as small as $sim 0.015$ $mu_B$ using the hyperfine coupling constant reported previously. It is shown that the NQR frequency $ u_Q$ correlates with magnetic fluctuations from measurements of NQR spectra and $1/T_1T$ in various samples. The higher-$ u_Q$ sample has the stronger magnetic fluctuations. A possible phase diagram in Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}cdot y$H$_{2}$O is depicted using $T_c$ and $ u_Q$, in which the crystal distortion along the c-axis of the tilted CoO$_2$ octahedron is considered to be a physical parameter. Superconductivity with the highest $T_c$ is seemingly observed in the vicinity of the magnetic phase, suggesting strongly that the magnetic fluctuations play an important role for the occurrence of the superconductivity.
We report the in-plane resistivity and magnetic susceptibility of the layered cobalt oxide Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_{2}{cdot}1.3$H$_{2}$O single crystal. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows metallic behavior from room temperature to the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ of 4.5 K. Sharp resistive transition, zero resistivity and almost perfect superconducting volume fraction below $T_{c}$ indicate the good quality and the bulk superconductivity of the single crystal. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ and the coherence length $xi$ are obtained from the resistive transitions in magnetic field parallel to the c-axis and the $ab$-plane. The anisotropy of $xi$, $xi_{ab} / xi_{c} =$ 12 nm/1.3 nm $simeq$ 9.2, suggests that this material is considered to be an anisotropic three dimensional superconductor. In the field parallel to the $ab$-plane, $H_{c2}$ seems to be suppressed to the value of Pauli paramagnetic limit. It may indicate the spin singlet superconductivity in the cobalt oxide.
We have used electron and neutron powder diffraction to elucidate the structural properties of superconducting NaD. Our measurements show that our superconducting sample exhbits a number of supercells ranging from ${1/3}a^{*}$ to ${1/15}a^{*}$, but the most predominant one, observed also in the neutron data, is a double hexagonal cell with dimensions dhx. Rietveld analysis reveals that deutspace is inserted between CoO$_{2}$ sheets as to form a layered network of NaO$_{6}$ triangular prisms. Our model removes the need to invoke a 5K superconducting point compound and suggests that a solid solution of Na is possible within a constant amount of water $y$.
Co nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) measurements were performed on various bilayered hydrate cobaltate Na_x(H_3O)_zCoO_2cdot yH_2O with different values of the superconducting and magnetic-ordering temperatures, T_c and T_M, respectively. From measurements of the temperature and sample dependence of the NQR frequency, it was revealed that the NQR frequency is changed by the change of the electric field gradient (EFG) along the c axis u_{zz} rather than the asymmetry of EFG within the ab-plane. In addition, it is considered that the change of u_{zz} is gaverned mainly by the trigonal distortion of the CoO_2 block layers along the c axis, from the relationships between u_{zz} and the various physical parameters. We found the tendency that samples with u_{zz} larger than 4.2 MHz show magnetic ordering, whereas samples with lower u_{zz} show superconductivity. We measured the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 in these samples, and found that magnetic fluctuations depend on samples. The higher- u_{zz} sample has stronger magnetic fluctuations at T_c. From the relationship between u_{zz} and T_c or T_M, we suggest that the NQR frequency can be regarded as a tuning parameter to determine the ground state of the system, and develop the phase diagram using u_{zz}. This phase diagram shows that the highest-T_c sample is located at the point where T_M is considered to be zero, which suggests that the superconductivity is induced by quantum critical fluctuations. We strongly advocate that the hydrate cobaltate superconductor presents an example of the magnetic-fluctuation-mediated superconductivity argued in the heavy-fermion compounds. The coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism observed in the sample with the highest u_{zz} is also discussed on the basis of the results of our experiments.
We have performed Co-nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) studies on Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}cdot y$H$_{2}$O compounds with different Na ($x$) and hydrate ($y$) contents. Two samples with different Na contents but nearly the same $T_c$ values ($x$ = 0.348, $T_c$ = 4.7 K ; $x$ = 0.339, $T_c$ = 4.6 K) were investigated. The spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ in the superconducting (SC) and normal states is almost the same for the two samples except just above $T_c$. NQR measurements were also performed on different-hydrate-content samples with different $T_c$ values, which were prepared from the same Na-content ($x$ = 0.348) sample. From measurements of $1/T_1$ using the different-hydrate-content samples, it was found that a low-$T_c$ sample with $T_c = 3.9$ K has a larger residual density of states (DOS) in the SC state and a smaller increase of $1/T_1T$ just above $T_c$ than a high-$T_c$ sample with $T_c$ = 4.7 K. The former behavior is consistent with that observed in unconventional superconductors, and the latter suggests the relationship between $T_c$ and the increase in DOS just above $T_c$. This increase, which is seemingly associated with the two-dimensionality of the CoO$_2$ plane, is considered to be one of the most important factors for the occurrence of superconductivity.