We present a pressure study of the electrical resistivity, AC magnetic susceptibility and powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) of the newly discovered BiS$_2$-based superconductor EuBiS$_2$F. At ambient pressure, EuBiS$_2$F shows an anomaly in the resistiv
ity at around $T_0approx 280$ K and a superconducting transition at $T_capprox 0.3$ K. Upon applying hydrostatic pressure, there is little change in $T_0$ but the amplitude of the resistive anomaly is suppressed, whereas there is a dramatic enhancement of $T_c$ from 0.3 K to about 8.6 K at a critical pressure of $p_c$ $approx{1.4}$ GPa. XRD measurements confirm that this enhancement of $T_c$ coincides with a structural phase transition from a tetragonal phase ($P4/nmm$) to a monoclinic phase ($P2_1$/m), which is similar to that observed in isostructural LaO$_{0.5}$F$_{0.5}$BiS$_2$. Our results suggest the presence of two different superconducting phases with distinct crystal structures in EuBiS$_2$F, which may be a general property of this family of BiS$_2$-based superconductors.
Conventional, thermally-driven continuous phase transitions are described by universal critical behaviour that is independent of the specific microscopic details of a material. However, many current studies focus on materials that exhibit quantum-dri
ven continuous phase transitions (quantum critical points, or QCPs) at absolute zero temperature. The classification of such QCPs and the question of whether they show universal behaviour remain open issues. Here we report measurements of heat capacity and de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations at low temperatures across a field-induced antiferromagnetic QCP (B$_{c0}simeq$ 50 T) in the heavy-fermion metal CeRhIn$_5$. A sharp, magnetic-field-induced change in Fermi surface is detected both in the dHvA effect and Hall resistivity at B$_0^*simeq$ 30 T, well inside the antiferromagnetic phase. Comparisons with band-structure calculations and properties of isostructural CeCoIn$_5$ suggest that the Fermi-surface change at B$_0^*$ is associated with a localized to itinerant transition of the Ce-4f electrons in CeRhIn$_5$. Taken in conjunction with pressure data, our results demonstrate that at least two distinct classes of QCP are observable in CeRhIn$_5$, a significant step towards the derivation of a universal phase diagram for QCPs.
The recent discovery of superconductivity in the quasi-one-dimensional compound K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$, which consists of double-walled tubes of [(Cr$_3$As$_3$)$^{2-}]^infty$ that run along the c axis, has attracted immediate attention as a potential syst
em for studying superconductors with reduced dimensionality. Here we report clear experimental evidence for the unconventional nature of the superconducting order parameter in K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$, by precisely measuring the temperature dependence of the change in the penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$ using a tunnel diode oscillator. Linear behavior of $Deltalambda(T)$ is observed for $Tll T_c$, instead of the exponential behavior of conventional superconductors, indicating that there are line nodes in the superconducting gap. This is strong evidence for unconventional behavior and may provide key information for identifying the pairing state of this novel superconductor.
We successfully synthesized the BaPt$_2$As$_2$ single crystals and studied their structural and physical properties at low temperatures. BaPt$_2$As$_2$ crystallizes in the CaBe$_2$Ge$_2$-type tetragonal structure (P4/nmm) at room temperature and unde
rgoes a first-order structural transition at $T_Ssimeq 275$ K, which is likely associated with a charge-density-wave (CDW) instability. BCS-type superconductivity with two subsequent transitions at $T_{c1}=1.67$K and $T_{c2}$=1.33K are observed in this compound. Thus, BaPt$_2$As$_2$ may serve as a new system for studying the interplay of superconductivity and the CDW order.
We measure the magnetic penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$ for NdO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$ ($x$ = 0.3 and 0.5) using the tunnel diode oscillator technique. The $Deltalambda(T)$ shows an upturn in the low-temperature limit which is attributed to the p
aramagnetism of Nd ions. After subtracting the paramagnetic contributions, the penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$ follows exponential-type temperature dependence at $Tll T_c$. Both $Deltalambda(T)$ and the corresponding superfluid density $rho_s(T)$ can be described by the BCS model with an energy gap of $Delta(0)$ $approx$ 2.0 $k_BT_c$ for both $x$ = 0.3 and 0.5, suggesting strong-coupling BCS superconductivity in the presence of localized moments for NdO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$.
We report measurements of London penetration depth $lambda(T)$ for the noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd by using a tunnel diode oscillator. Pronounced anisotropic behavior is observed in the low-temperature penetration depth; the in-plane penet
ration depth $lambda_{ac}(T)$ follows an exponential decrease, but the interplane penetration depth $lambda_b(T)$ shows power-law-type behavior. The superfluid density $rho_s(T)$, converted from the penetration depth $lambda(T)$, is best fitted by an anisotropic two-band BCS model. We argue that such a complex order parameter is attributed to the admixture of spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairing states as a result of antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in BiPd.
We present research on the superconducting properties of Nb$_{x}$Re$_{1-x}$ ($x$ = 0.13-0.38) obtained by measuring the electrical resistivity $rho(T)$, magnetic susceptibility $chi(T)$, specific heat $C_P(T)$, and London penetration depth $Deltalamb
da(T)$. It is found that the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ decreases monotonically with an increase of $x$. The upper critical field $B_{c2}(T)$ for various $x$ can be nicely scaled by its corresponding $T_c$. The electronic specific heat $C_e(T)/T$, penetration depth $Deltalambda(T)$, and superfluid density $rho_{s}(T)$ demonstrate exponential behavior at low temperatures and can be well fitted by a one-gap BCS model. The residual Sommerfeld coefficient $gamma_0(B)$ in the superconducting state follows a linear field dependence. All these properties suggest an emph{s}-wave BCS-type of superconductivity with a very large $B_{c2}(0)$ for Nb$_{x}$Re$_{1-x}$ (0.13 $leq x leq$ 0.38).
We report measurements of magnetic quantum oscillations and specific heat at low temperatures across a field-induced antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP)(B_{c0}approx50T) of the heavy-fermion metal CeRhIn_5. A sharp magnetic-field induced F
ermi surface reconstruction is observed inside the antiferromagnetic phase. Our results demonstrate multiple classes of QCPs in the field-pressure phase diagram of this heavy-fermion metal, pointing to a universal description of QCPs. They also suggest that robust superconductivity is promoted by unconventional quantum criticality of a fluctuating Fermi surface.
The electrical resistance of CeFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ (x = 0.06 and 0.08) has been measured in a magnetic field up to 40T. At zero field, the sample with x = 0.06 shows a structural phase transition around T$_S$~100K, followed by a spin-density-wave (SDW
) transition around T$_{SDW}$~30K. For x = 0.08, the structural phase transition is suppressed down to T$_S$~60K without a clear anomaly associated with the Fe-SDW transition, and superconductivity shows up at T$_C$~25K. At lower temperatures, both samples show a clear resistive peak around T$_N$~4K, which is associated with the antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition of Ce-4f electrons. Strikingly, zero resistance is recovered upon further lowering temperature below T$_N$ for x = 0.08. Moreover, we found that the AFM transition of Ce 4f-electrons at 4K hardly changes with applying a magnetic field up to 40T, even in the case of x = 0.08, where superconductivity has been partially suppressed at such a large field.
We study the superconducting properties of the non-centrosymmetric compound LaNiC$_2$ by measuring the London penetration depth $Delta lambda (T)$, the specific heat $C(T,B)$ and the electrical resistivity $rho (T,B)$. Both $Deltalambda (T)$ and the
electronic specific heat $C_e(T)$ exhibit exponential behavior at low temperatures and can be described in terms of a phenomenological two-gap BCS model. The residual Sommerfeld coefficient in the superconducting state, $gamma_0(B)$, shows a fast increase at low fields and then an eventual saturation with increasing magnetic field. A pronounced upturn curvature is observed in the upper critical field $B_{c2}(T)$ near $T_{c}$. All the experimental observations support the existence of two-gap superconductivity in LaNiC$_2$.
