No Arabic abstract
The understanding of the zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in the tunnelling spectra of S/N junctions involving d-wave cuprate superconductors has been important in the determination of the phase structure of the superconducting order parameter. In this context, the involvement of a p-wave superconductor such as Sr2RuO4 in tunnelling studies is indeed of great importance. We have recently succeeded in fabricating devices that enable S/N junctions forming at interfaces between Sr2RuO4 and Ru micro-inclusions in eutectic crystals to be investigated.3 We have observed a ZBCP and have interpreted it as due to the Andreev bound state, commonly seen in unconventional superconductors. Also we have proposed that the onset of the ZBCP may be used to delineate the phase boundary for the onset of a time reversal symmetry broken (TRSB) state within the superconducting state, which does not always coincide with the onset of the superconducting state. However, these measurements always involved two interfaces between Sr2RuO4 and Ru. In the present study, we have extended the previous measurements to obtain a deeper insight into the properties of a single interface between Sr2RuO4 and Ru.
The eutectic system Sr2RuO4-Ru is referred to as the 3-K phase of the spin-triplet supeconductor Sr2RuO4 because of its enhanced superconducting transition temperature Tc of ~3 K. We have investigated the field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram of the 3-K phase for fields parallel and perpendicular to the ab-plane of Sr2RuO4, using out-of-plane resistivity measurements. We have found an upturn curvature in the Hc2(T) curve for H // c, and a rather gradual temperature dependence of Hc2 close to Tc for both H // ab and H // c. We have also investigated the dependence of Hc2 on the angle between the field and the ab-plane at several temperatures. Fitting the Ginzburg-Landau effective-mass model apparently fails to reproduce the angle dependence, particularly near H // c and at low temperatures. We propose that all of these charecteric features can be explained, at least in a qualitative fashion, on the basis of a theory by Sigrist and Monien that assumes surface superconductivity with a two-component order parameter occurring at the interface between Sr2RuO4 and Ru inclusions. This provides evidence of the chiral state postulated for the 1.5-K phase by several experiments.
Superconducting behavior has been observed in the Sr2RuO4-Sr3Ru2O7 eutectic system as grown by the flux-feeding floating zone technique. A supercurrent flows across a single interface between Sr2RuO4 and Sr3Ru2O7 areas at distances that are far beyond those expected in a conventional proximity scenario. The current-voltage characteristics within the Sr3Ru2O7 macrodomain, as extracted from the eutectic, exhibit signatures of superconductivity in the bilayered ruthenate. Detailed microstructural, morphological and compositional analyses address issues on the concentration and the size of Sr2RuO4 inclusions within the Sr3Ru2O7 matrix. We speculate on the possibility of inhomogeneous superconductivity in the eutectic Sr3Ru2O7 and exotic pairing induced by the Sr2RuO4 inclusions.
The structural and magnetic phase transitions have been studied on NdFeAsO single crystals by neutron and x-ray diffraction complemented by resistivity and specific heat measurements. Two low-temperature phase transitions have been observed in addition to the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition at T_S = 142 K and the onset of antiferromagnetic (AFM) Fe order below T_N = 137 K. The Fe moments order AFM in the well-known stripe-like structure in the (ab) plane, but change from AFM to ferromagnetic (FM) arrangement along the c direction below T* = 15 K accompanied by the onset of Nd AFM order below T_Nd = 6 K with this same AFM configuration. The iron magnetic order-order transition in NdFeAsO accentuates the Nd-Fe interaction and the delicate balance of c-axis exchange couplings that results in AFM in LaFeAsO and FM in CeFeAsO and PrFeAsO.
We present a systematic investigation of the antiferromagnetic ordering and structural distortion for the series of Ba(Fe{1-x}Ru{x})2As2 compounds (0 <= x <= 0.246). Neutron and x-ray diffraction measurements demonstrate that, unlike for the electron-doped compounds, the structural and magnetic transitions remain coincident in temperature. Both the magnetic and structural transitions are gradually suppressed with increased Ru concentration and coexist with superconductivity. For samples that are superconducting, we find strong competition between superconductivity, the antiferromagnetic ordering, and the structural distortion.
Although Sr3Ru2O7 has not been reported to exhibit superconductivity so far, ac susceptibility measurements revealed multiple superconducting transitions occurring in the Sr3Ru2O7 region cut from Sr3Ru2O7-Sr2RuO4 eutectic crystals. Based on various experimental results, some of us proposed the scenario in which Sr2RuO4 thin slabs with a few layers of the RuO2 plane are embedded in the Sr3Ru2O7 region as stacking faults and multiple superconducting transitions arise from the distribution of the slab thickness. To examine this scenario, we measured the resistivity along the ab plane (rho_ab) using a Sr3Ru2O7-region sample cut from the eutectic crystal, as well as along the c axis (rho_c) using the same crystal. As a result, we detected resistance drops associated with superconductivity only in rho_ab, but not in rho_c. These results support the Sr2RuO4 thin-slab scenario. In addition, we measured the resistivity of a single crystal of pure Sr3Ru2O7 with very high quality and found that pure Sr3Ru2O7 does not exhibit superconductivity down to 15 mK.