Doping dependence of Normal-state Property in the Iron-based Oxypnictide Superconductors LaFeAsO1-y probed by 57Fe-NMR and 75As-NMR/NQR

We report systematic 57Fe-NMR and 75As-NMR/NQR studies on an underdoped sample (T_c=20 K), an optimally doped sample (T_c=28 K), and an overdoped sample (T_c=22 K) of oxygen-deficient iron (Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductor LaFeAsO_{1-y}$. A microscopic phase separation between superconducting domains and magnetic domains is shown to take place in the underdoped sample, indicating a local inhomogeneity in association with the density distribution of oxygen deficiencies. As a result, 1/T_1T in the normal state of the superconducting domain decreases significantly upon cooling at both the Fe and As sites regardless of the electron-doping level in LaFeAsO_{1-y}. On the basis of this result, we claim that $1/T_1T$ is not always enhanced by antiferromagnetic fluctuations close to an antiferromagnetic phase in the underdoped superconducting sample. This contrasts with the behavior in hole-doped Ba_{0.6}K_{0.4}Fe2As2(T_c= 38 K), which exhibits a significant increase in $1/T_1T$ upon cooling. We remark that the crucial difference between the normal-state properties of LaFeAsO_{1-y} and Ba_{0.6}K_{0.4}Fe2As2 originates from the fact that the relevant Fermi surface topologies are differently modified depending on whether electrons or holes are doped into the FeAs layers.

Novel Superconducting Characteristics and Unusual Normal-State Properties in Iron-based Pnictide Superconductors: 57Fe-NMR and 75As-NQR/NMR studies in REFeAsO_1-y (RE=La,Pr,Nd) and Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2

We discuss the novel superconducting characteristics and unusual normal-state properties of iron (Fe)-based pnictide superconductors REFeAsO$_{1-y}$ (RE=La,Pr,Nd) and Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$($T_{c}=$ 38 K) by means of $^{57}$Fe-NMR and $^{75}$As-NQR/NMR. In the superconducting state of LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ ($T_{c}=$ 28 K), the spin component of the $^{57}$Fe-Knight shift decreases to almost zero at low temperatures, which provide firm evidence of the superconducting state formed by spin-singlet Cooper pairing. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates $(1/T_{1})$ in LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ and Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ exhibit a $T^{3}$-like dependence without a coherence peak just below $T_{c}$, indicating that an unconventional superconducting state is commonly realized in these Fe-based pnictide compounds. All these events below $T_c$ are consistently argued in terms of an extended s$_{pm}$-wave pairing with a sign reversal of the order parameter among Fermi surfaces. In the normal state, $1/T_1T$ decreases remarkably upon cooling for both the Fe and As sites of LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$. In contrast, it gradually increases upon cooling in Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$. Despite the similarity between the superconducting properties of these compounds, a crucial difference was observed in their normal-state properties depending on whether electrons or holes are doped into the FeAs layers. These results may provide some hint to address a possible mechanism of Fe-based pnictide superconductors.

Spin Fluctuations and Unconventional Superconductivity in the Fe-based Oxypnictide Superconductor LaFeAsO_0.7 probed by 57Fe-NMR

We report $^{57}$Fe-NMR studies on the oxygen-deficient iron (Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductor LaFeAsO$_{0.7}$ ($T_{c}=$ 28 K) enriched by $^{57}$Fe isotope. In the superconducting state, the spin component of $^{57}$Fe-Knight shift $^{57}K$ decreases almost to zero at low temperatures and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $^{57}(1/T_{1})$ exhibits a $T^{3}$-like dependence without the coherence peak just below $T_{c}$, which give firm evidence of the unconventional superconducting state formed by spin-singlet Cooper pairing. All these events below $T_c$ are consistently argued in terms of the extended s$_{pm}$-wave pairing with a sign reversal of the order parameter among Fermi surfaces. In the normal state, we found the remarkable decrease of $1/T_1T$ upon cooling for both the Fe and As sites, which originates from the decrease of low-energy spectral weight of spin fluctuations over whole ${bm q}$ space upon cooling below room temperature. Such behavior has never been observed for other strongly correlated superconductors where an antiferromagnetic interaction plays a vital role in mediating the Cooper pairing.

75As NQR/NMR Studies on Oxygen-deficient Iron-based Oxypnictide Superconductors LaFeAsO_{1-y} (y=0,0.25,0.4) and NdFeAsO_{0.6}

We report 75As-NQR/NMR studies on the oxygen-deficient iron(Fe)-based oxypnictide superconductors LaFeAsO_{0.6} (T_c=28 K) along with the results on LaFeAsO, LaFeAsO_{0.75}(T_c=20 K) and NdFeAsO_{0.6}(T_c=53 K). Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 of 75As NQR at zero field on LaFeAsO_{0.6} has revealed a T^3 dependence below T_c upon cooling without the coherence peak just below T_c, evidencing the unconventional superconducting state with the line-node gap. We have found an intimate relationship between the nuclear quadrupole frequencyof 75As and T_c for four samples used in this study. It implies microscopically that the local configuration of Fe and As atoms is significantly related to the T_c of the Fe-oxypnictide superconductors, namely, the T_c can be enhanced up to 50 K when the local configuration of Fe and As atoms is optimal, in which the band structure may be also optimized through the variation of hybridization between As 4p orbitals and Fe 3d orbitals.