We report an inelastic neutron scattering investigation of phonons with energies up to 159 meV in the conventional superconductor YNi$_2$B$_2$C. Using the SWEEP mode, a newly developed time-of-flight technique involving the continuous rotation of a s
ingle crystal specimen, allowed us to measure a four dimensional volume in (Q,E) space and, thus, determine the dispersion surface and linewidths of the $A_{1g}$ (~ 102 meV) and $A_u$ (~ 159 meV) type phonon modes for the whole Brillouin zone. Despite of having linewidths of $Gamma = 10 meV$, $A_{1g}$ modes do not strongly contribute to the total electron-phonon coupling constant $lambda$. However, experimental linewidths show a remarkable agreement with ab-initio calculations over the complete phonon energy range demonstrating the accuracy of such calculations in a rare comparison to a comprehensive experimental data set.
We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the resonant spin excitations in Ba1-xKxFe2As2 over a broad range of electron band filling. The fall in the superconducting transi- tion temperature with hole doping coincides with the magnetic e
xcitations splitting into two incom- mensurate peaks because of the growing mismatch in the hole and electron Fermi surface volumes, as confirmed by a tight-binding model with s+- symmetry pairing. The reduction in Fermi surface nesting is accompanied by a collapse of the resonance binding energy and its spectral weight caused by the weakening of electron-electron correlations.
We report high-resolution inelastic x-ray measurements of the soft phonon mode in the charge-density-wave compound TiSe$_2$. We observe a complete softening of a transverse optic phonon at the L point, i.e. q = (0.5, 0, 0.5), at T ~ T_{CDW}. Renormal
ized phonon energies are observed over a large wavevector range $(0.3, 0, 0.5) le mathbf{q} le (0.5, 0, 0.5)$. Detailed ab-initio calculations for the electronic and lattice dynamical properties of TiSe2 are in quantitative agreement with experimental frequencies for the phonon branch involving the soft mode. The observed broad range of renormalized phonon frequencies is directly related to a broad peak in the electronic susceptibility stabilizing the charge-density-wave ordered state. Our analysis demonstrates that a conventional electron-phonon coupling mechanism can explain a structural instability and the charge-density-wave order in TiSe_2 although other mechanisms might further boost the transition temperature.
Neutrons have played an important role in advancing our understanding of the pairing mechanism and the symmetry of the superconducting energy gap in the iron arsenide compounds. Neutron measurements of the phonon density-of-state are in good agreemen
t with ab initio calculations, provided the magnetism of the iron atoms is taken into account. However, the predicted superconducting transition temperatures are less than 1 K, making a conventional phononic mechanism for superconductivity highly unlikely. Measurements of the spin dynamics within the spin density wave phase of the parent compounds show evidence of strongly dispersive spin waves with exchange interactions consistent with the observed magnetic order. Antiferromagnetic fluctuations persist in the normal phase of the superconducting compounds, but they are more diffuse. Below Tc, there is evidence compounds that these fluctuations condense into a resonant spin excitation at the antiferromagnetic wavevector with an energy that scales with Tc, consistent with unconventional superconductivity of extended-s+/- wave symmetry.
