We report on high-pressure (p_max = 2.1 GPa) muon spin rotation experiments probing the temperature-dependent magnetic penetration depth in the layered superconductor 2H-NbSe_2. Upon increasing the pressure, we observe a substantial increase of the s
uperfluid density n_s, which we find to scale linearly with T_c. This linear scaling is considered a hallmark feature of unconventional superconductivity, especially in high-temperature cuprate superconductors. Our current results, along with our earlier findings on 1T-MoTe_2 (Z. Guguchia et. al., Nature Communications 8, 1082 (2017)), demonstrate that this linear relation is also an intrinsic property of the superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides, whereas the ratio T_c/T_F is approximately a factor of 20 lower than the ratio observed in hole-doped cuprates. We, furthermore, find that the values of the superconducting gaps are insensitive to the suppression of the quasi-two-dimensional CDW state, indicating that the CDW ordering and the superconductivity in 2H-NbSe_2 are independent of each other.
Similar to chemical doping, pressure produces and stabilizes new phases of known materials, whose properties may differ greatly from those of their standard counterparts. Here, by considering a series of LaFeAs$_{1-x}$P$_x$O iron-pnictides synthesize
d under high-pressure high-temperature conditions, we investigate the simultaneous effects of pressure and isoelectronic doping in the 1111 family. Results of numerous macro- and microscopic technique measurements, unambiguously show a radically different phase diagram for the pressure-grown materials, characterized by the lack of magnetic order and the persistence of superconductivity across the whole $0.3 leq x leq 0.7$ doping range. This unexpected scenario is accompanied by a branching in the electronic properties across $x = 0.5$, involving both the normal and superconducting phases. Most notably, the superconducting order parameter evolves from nodal (for $x < 0.5$) to nodeless (for $x geq 0.5$), in clear contrast to other 1111 and 122 iron-based materials grown under ambient-pressure conditions.
A low background double-wall piston-cylinder-type pressure cell is developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The cell is made from BERLYCO-25 (beryllium copper) and MP35N nonmagnetic alloys with the design and dimensions which are specifically adapte
d to muon-spin rotation/relaxation (muSR) measurements. The mechanical design and performance of the pressure cell are evaluated using finite-element analysis (FEA). By including the measured stress-strain characteristics of the material into the finite-element model, the cell dimensions are optimized with the aim to reach the highest possible pressure while maintaining the sample space large (6 mm in diameter and 12 mm high). The presented unconventional design of the double-wall piston-cylinder pressure cell with a harder outer MP35N sleeve and asofter inner CuBe cylinder enables pressures of up to 2.6 GPa to be reached at ambient temperatures, corresponding to 2.2 GPa at low temperatures without any irreversible damage to the pressure cell. The nature of the muon stopping distribution, mainly in the sample and in the CuBe cylinder, results in a low-background muSR signal.
We report a detailed $mu$SR study of the pressure evolution of the magnetic order in the manganese based pnictide MnP, which has been recently found to undergo a superconducting transition under pressure once the magnetic ground state is suppressed.
Using the muon as a volume sensitive local magnetic probe, we identify a ferromagnetic state as well as two incommensurate helical states (with propagation vectors ${bf Q}$ aligned along the crystallographic $c-$ and $b-$directions, respectively) which transform into each other through first order phase transitions as a function of pressure and temperature. Our data appear to support that the magnetic state from which superconductivity develops at higher pressures is an incommensurate helical phase.
Competing electronic states are found in the large majority of unconventional superconductors, including high-Tc cuprates, iron based superconductors and many heavy fermion systems. The complex interplay is reflected in phase diagrams as a function o
f doping or other tuning parameters involving besides superconducting other phases (often magnetic) and quantum critical points. Superconductivity is also found in the vicinity of charge density wave (CDW) order in phase diagrams reminiscent of superconductivity mediated by magnetic fluctuations. There is however less knowledge about the interplay of superconductivity and CDW compared to the magnetic analogon. Here we report about microscopic studies by muon spin rotation as a function of pressure of the Ca_3Ir_4Sn_13 and Sr_3Ir_4Sn_13 cubic compounds, which display superconductivity and a structural phase transition associated with the formation of a CDW. We find a strong enhancement of the superfluid density and of the coupling strength above a pressure of about 1.6 GPa giving direct evidence of the presence of a quantum critical point separating a superconducting phase coexisting with CDW from a pure superconducting phase. The superconducting order parameter in both phases are found to have the same s-wave symmetry. In spite of the conventional phonon-mediated BCS character of this compound, the dependence of the effective superfluid density on the critical temperature puts this system in the Uemura plot close to unconventional superconductors.
The recent discovery of pressure induced superconductivity in the binary helimagnet CrAs has attracted much attention. How superconductivity emerges from the magnetic state and what is the mechanism of the superconducting pairing are two important is
sues which need to be resolved. In the present work, the suppression of magnetism and the occurrence of superconductivity in CrAs as a function of pressure ($p$) were studied by means of muon spin rotation. The magnetism remains bulk up to $psimeq3.5$~kbar while its volume fraction gradually decreases with increasing pressure until it vanishes at $psimeq$7~kbar. At 3.5 kbar superconductivity abruptly appears with its maximum $T_c simeq 1.2$~K which decreases upon increasing the pressure. In the intermediate pressure region ($3.5lesssim plesssim 7$~kbar) the superconducting and the magnetic volume fractions are spatially phase separated and compete for phase volume. Our results indicate that the less conductive magnetic phase provides additional carriers (doping) to the superconducting parts of the CrAs sample thus leading to an increase of the transition temperature ($T_c$) and of the superfluid density ($rho_s$). A scaling of $rho_s$ with $T_c^{3.2}$ as well as the phase separation between magnetism and superconductivity point to a conventional mechanism of the Cooper-pairing in CrAs.
The magnetic penetration depth ($lambda$) as a function of applied magnetic field and temperature in SrPt$_3$P($T_csimeq8.4$ K) was studied by means of muon-spin rotation ($mu$SR). The dependence of $lambda^{-2}$ on temperature suggests the existence
of a single $s-$wave energy gap with the zero-temperature value $Delta=1.58(2)$ meV. At the same time $lambda$ was found to be strongly field dependent which is the characteristic feature of the nodal gap and/or multi-gap systems. The multi-gap nature of the superconduicting state is further confirmed by observation of an upward curvature of the upper critical field. This apparent contradiction would be resolved with SrPt$_3$P being a two-band superconductor with equal gaps but different coherence lengths within the two Fermi surface sheets.
We investigated the Abrikosov vortex lattice (VL) of a pure Niobium single crystal with the muon spin rotation (mu SR) technique. Analysis of the mu SR data in the framework of the BCS-Gorkov theory allowed us to determine microscopic parameters and
the limitations of the theory. With decreasing temperature the field variation around the vortex cores deviates substantially from the predictions of the Ginzburg-Landau theory and adopts a pronounced conical shape. This is evidence of partial diffraction of Cooper pairs on the VL predicted by Delrieu for clean superconductors.
Muon spin rotation (muSR) experiments were performed on the intercalated graphite CaC6 in the normal and superconducting state down to 20 mK. In addition, AC magnetization measurements were carried out resulting in an anisotropic upper critical field
Hc2, from which the coherence lengths xi_ab(0)=36.3(1.5) nm and xi_c(0)=4.3(7) nm were estimated. The anisotropy parameter gamma_H= H_c2_ab/H_c2_c increases monotonically with decreasing temperature. A single isotropic s-wave description of superconductivity cannot account for this behaviour. From magnetic field dependent muSR experiments the absolute value of the in-plane magnetic penetretion depth lambda_ab=78(3) nm was determined. The temperature dependence of the superfluid density rho_s(T) is slightly better described by a two-gap than a single-gap model.
Zero and longitudinal field muon spin rotation (muSR) experiments were performed on the superconductors PrPt4Ge12 and LaPt4Ge12. In PrPt4Ge12 below Tc a spontaneous magnetization with a temperature variation resembling that of the superfluid density
appears. This observation implies time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking in PrPt4Ge12 below Tc = 7.9 K. This remarkably high Tc for an anomalous superconductor and the weak and gradual change of Tc and of the related specific heat anomaly upon La substitution in La_(1-x)Pr_xPt_4Ge_(12) suggests that the TRS breaking is due to orbital degrees of freedom of the Cooper pairs.
