We used high-resolution scanning tunneling spectroscopy to study the hole-doped iron pnictide superconductor Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ ($T_c=38$ K). Features of a bosonic excitation (mode) are observed in the measured quasiparticle density
of states. The bosonic features are intimately associated with the superconducting order parameter and have a mode energy of $sim$14 meV, similar to the spin resonance measured by inelastic neutron scattering. These results indicate a strong electron-spin excitation coupling in iron pictnide superconductors, similar to that in high-$T_c$ copper oxide superconductors.
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 the observation of two gaps in the superconductor SmFeAsO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1}$ (F-SmFeAsO) with $T_c=51.5K$ as measured by point-contact spectroscopy. Both gaps decrease with temperature and vanish at $T_c$ and the temperature dependence of the
gaps are described by the theoretical prediction of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. A zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) was observed, indicating the presence of Andreev bound states at the surface of F-SmFeAsO. Our results strongly suggest an unconventional nodal superconductivity with multiple gaps in F-SmFeAsO.
We present point-contact spectroscopy data for junctions between a normal metal and the newly discovered F-doped superconductor LaO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1-delta}$FeAs (F-LaOFeAs). A zero-bias conductance peak was observed and its shape and magnitude suggests
the presence of Andreev bound states at the surface of F-LaOFeAs, which provides a possible evidence of an unconventional pairing symmetry with a nodal gap function. The maximum gap value $Delta_0approx3.9pm0.7$meV was determined from the measured spectra, in good agreement with the recent experiments on specific heat and lower critical field.
The alloys of non-centrosymmetric superconductor, Re$_3$W, which were reported to have an $alpha$-Mn structure [P. Greenfield and P. A. Beck, J. Metals, N. Y. textbf{8}, 265 (1959)] with $T_mathrm{c}=9 $K were prepared by arc melting. The ac suscepti
bility and low-temperature specific heat were measured on these alloys. It is found that there are two superconducting phases coexisting in the samples with $T_mathrm{c1}sim9 $K and $T_mathrm{c2}sim7 $K, both of which have a non-centrosymmetric structure as reported previously. By analyzing the specific heat data measured in various magnetic fields, we found that the absence of the inversion symmetry does not lead to the deviation from a s-wave pairing symmetry in Re$_3$W.
The longitudinal resistivity (rho_{xx}) and transverse resistivity (rho_{xy}) of MgB2 thin films in the mixed state were studied in detail. We found that the temperature dependencies of rho_{xx} and rho_{xy} at a fixed magnetic field (H) satisfy the
scaling law of $rho_{xy}=Arho_{xx}^beta$, where the exponent beta varies around 2.0 for different fields. In the low field region (below 1T), beta maintains a constant value of 2.0 due to the weak pinning strength of the vortices, mainly from the superfluid of the pi band. When H>1T, beta drops abruptly to its lowest value at about 2T because of the proliferation of quasiparticles from the pi-band and, hence, the motion of the vortices from the superfluid of the sigma-band dominates the dissipation. As the field is increased further, the vortex pinning strength is weakened and beta increases monotonically towards 2.0 at a high field. All the results presented here are in good agreement with the expectation of the vortex physics of a multi-band superconductor.
The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of various MgB2 films have been studied at different magnetic fields parallel to c-axis. At fields mu0H between 0 and 5T, vortex liquid-glass transitions were found in the I-V isotherms. Consistently, the I-V
curves measured at different temperatures show a scaling behavior in the framework of quasi-two-dimension (quasi-2D) vortex glass theory. However, at mu0 H >= 5T, a finite dissipation was observed down to the lowest temperature here, T=1.7K, and the I-V isotherms did not scale in terms of any known scaling law, of any dimensionality. We suggest that this may be caused by a mixture of sigma band vortices and pi band quasiparticles. Interestingly, the I-V curves at zero magnetic field can still be scaled according to the quasi-2D vortex glass formalism, indicating an equivalent effect of self-field due to persistent current and applied magnetic field.
