We report the superconductivity at enhanced temperature of 5.2 K in the polycrystalline sample of ZrTe3 and Ni intercalated ZrTe3. ZrTe3 is a Charge Density Wave (T = 63K) compound, which is known to superconduct only below 2K in single crystalline f
orm. We discuss that the intergrain strains in the polycrystalline samples induces an intrinsic pressure and thus enhances the transition temperature. Fe intercalation of ZrTe3 kills both the charge density wave and superconducting states, gives rise to the magnetic ordering in the compound.
We report the occurrence of superconductivity in polycrystalline samples of ZrTe3 at 5.2 K temperature at ambient pressure. The superconducting state coexists with the charge density wave (CDW) phase, which sets in at 63K. The intercalation of Cu or
Ag, does not have any bearing on the superconducting transition temperature but suppresses the CDW state. The feature of CDW anomaly in these compounds is clearly seen in the DC magnetization data. Resistivity data is analysed to estimate the relative loss of carriers and reduction in the nested Fermi surface area upon CDW formation in the ZrTe3 and the intercalated compounds.
The flux pinning force density (Fp) of the single crystalline FeTe0.60Se0.40 superconductor has been calculated from the magnetization measurements. The normalized Fp versus h (=H/Hirr) curves are scaled using the Dew-Hughes formula to underline the
pinning mechanism in the compound. The obtained values of pinning parameters p and q indicate the vortex pinning by the mixing of the surface and the point core pinning of the normal centers. The vortex phase diagram has also been drawn for the first time for the FeTe0.60Se0.40, which has very high values of critical current density Jc ~ 1.10(5) Amp/cm2 and the upper critical field Hc2(0) = 65T, with a reasonably high transition temperature Tc =14.5K.
Electrical conductivity, thermopower and magnetic properties of Fe-intercalated Fe0.33VSe2 has been reported between 4.2K - 300K. We observe a first order transition in the resistivity of the sintered pellets around 160K on cooling. The electronic pr
operties including the transitional hysteresis in the resistance anomaly (from 80K-160K) are found to be very sensitive to the structural details of the samples, which were prepared in different annealing conditions. The thermopower results on the sintered pellets are reported between 10K - 300K. The magnetic measurements between 2K - 300K and up to 14 Tesla field show the absence of any magnetic ordering in Fe0.33VSe2. The magnetic moment per Fe -atom at room temperature (between 1.4 to 1.7 Bohr Magneton) is much lower than in previously reported anti-ferromagnetic FeV2Se4. Furthermore, the Curie constant shows a rapid and continuous reduction and combined with the high field magnetization result at 2K suggests a rapid decrease in the paramagnetic moments on cooling to low temperatures and the absence of any magnetic order in Fe0.33VSe2 at low temperatures.
