We report a systematic investigation on c-axis point-contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) in BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$ superconducting single crystals from underdoped to overdoped regions (0.075 $leq xleq 0.15$). At optimal doping ($x=0.1$) the PCAR spec
trum feature the structures of two superconducting gap and electron-boson coupling mode. In the $spm$ scenario, quantitative analysis using a generalized Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) formalism with two gaps: one isotropic and another angle dependent, suggest a nodeless state in strong-coupling limit with gap minima on the Fermi surfaces. Upon crossing above the optimal doping ($x > 0.1$), the PCAR spectrum show an in-gap sharp narrow peak at low bias, in contrast to the case of underdoped samples ($x < 0.1$), signaling the onset of deepened gap minima or nodes in the superconducting gap. This result provides evidence of the modulation of the gap amplitude with doping concentration, consistent with the calculations for the orbital dependent pair interaction mediated by the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations.
The temperature dependent resistivity of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ (x = 0.23, 0.25, 0.28 and 0.4) single crystals and the angle dependent resistivity of superconducting Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ single crystals were measured in magnetic field
s up to 9 T. The measurements of temperature dependent resistivity for samples with different doping levels revealed very high upper critical fields which increase with the transition temperature monotonously, and a very low superconducting anisotropy ratio $Gamma=H_{c2}^{ab}/H_{c2}^c approx$ 2. By scaling the resistivity in the frame of the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory, the angle dependent resistivity of the Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ single crystal measured with different magnetic fields at a certain temperature collapsed onto one curve. As the only scaling parameter, the anisotropy $Gamma$ was determined alternatively for each temperature and was found to be between two and three.
By measuring the dynamic and traditional magnetization relaxations we investigate the vortex dynamics of the newly discovered superconductor SmFeAsO_0.9F_0.1 with Tc = 55K. It is found that the relaxation rate is rather large reflecting a small chara
cteristic pinning energy. Moreover it shows a weak temperature dependence in wide temperature region, which resembles the behavior of the cuprate superconductors. Combining with the resistive data under different magnetic fields, a vortex phase diagram is obtained. Our results strongly suggest that the model of collective vortex pinning applies to this new superconductor very well.
We report a detailed investigation on the lower critical field $H_{c1}$ of the superconducting Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ (FeAs-122) single crystals. A pronounced kink is observed on the $H_{c1}(T)$ curve, which is attributed to the existence of
two superconducting gaps. By fitting the data $H_{c1}(T)$ to the two-gap BCS model in full temperature region, a small gap of $Delta_a(0)=2.0pm 0.3$ meV and a large gap of $Delta_b(0)=8.9pm 0.4$ meV are obtained. The in-plane penetration depth $lambda_{ab}(0)$ is estimated to be 105 nm corresponding to a rather large superfluid density, which points to the breakdown of the Uemura plot in FeAs-122 superconductors.
We present the first experimental results of the lower critical field $H_{c1}$ of the newly discovered F-doped superconductor LaO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1}$FeAs (F-LaOFeAs) by global and local magnetization measurements. It is found that $H_{c1}$ showed an cle
ar linear-$T$ dependence down to a temperature of 2 K, indicative of an unconventional pairing symmetry with a nodal gap function. Based on the d-wave model, we estimated a maximum gap value $Delta_0=4.0 pm 0.6$ meV, in consistent with the recent specific heat and point-contact tunneling measurements. Taking the demagnetization factor into account, the absolute value of $H_{c1}(0)$ is determined to be about 54 Oe, manifesting a low superfluid density for LaO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1}$FeAs.
