Magnetic ordering of Sm in Sm2CuO4

Magnetic order and competition with superconductivity in (Ho-Er)Ni2B2C

The rare earth magnetic order in pure and doped H o ( 1 - x ) E r x N i 2 B 2 C (x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1) single crystal samples was investigated using magnetization and neutron diffraction measurements. Superconducting quaternary borocarbides, R N i 2 B 2 C where R = Ho, Er , are magnetic intermetallic superconductors with the transition temperatures~10 K in which long range magnetic order develops in the same temperature range and competes with superconductivity. Depending on the rare earth composition the coupling between superconductivity and magnetism creates several phases, ranging from a near reentrant superconductor with a mixture of commensurate and incommensurate antiferromagnetism to an incommensurate antiferromagnetic spin modulation with a weak ferromagnetic component. All of these phases coexist with superconductivity. RKKY magnetic interactions are used to describe the magnetic orders in the pure compounds. However, the doping of Er on Ho sites which have two strong magnetic moments with two different easy directions creates new and complicated magnetic modulations with possible local disorder effects. One fascinating effect is the development of an induced magnetic state resembling the pure and doped R2CuO4 cuprate with R = Nd and Pr.

Two-band and pauli-limiting effects on the upper critical field of 112-type iron pnictide superconductors

The temperature dependence of upper critical field μ₀H_c2 of Ca_0.83La_0.17FeAs₂ and Ca_0.8La_0.2Fe_0.98Co_0.02As₂ single crystals are investigated by measuring the resistivity for the inter-plane (H//c) and in-plane (H//ab) directions in magnetic fields up to 60 T. It is found that μ₀H_c2(T) of both crystals for H//c presents a sublinear temperature dependence with decreasing temperature, whereas the curve of μ₀H_c2(T) for H//ab has a convex curvature and gradually tends to saturate at low temperatures. μ₀H_c2(T) in both crystals deviates from the conventional Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) theoretical model without considering spin paramagnetic effect for H//c and H//ab directions. Detailed analyses show that the behavior of μ₀H_c2(T) in 112-type Iron-based superconductors (IBSs) is similar to that of most IBSs. Two-band model is required to fully reproduce the behavior of μ₀H_c2(T) for H//c, while the effect of spin paramagnetic effect is responsible for the behavior of μ₀H_c2(T) for H//ab.

Electrical and thermal transport properties of the electron-doped cuprate Sm2-x Ce x CuO4-y system

Electrical and thermal transport measurements were performed on thin films of the electron-doped superconductor Sm_2-x Ce _x CuO_4-y (x  =  0.13  -  0.19) in order to study the evolving nature of the charge carriers from the under-doped to over-doped regime. A temperature versus cerium content (T  -  x) phase diagram has been constructed from the electrical transport measurements, yielding a superconducting region similar to that found for other electron-doped superconductors. Thermopower measurements show a dramatic change from the underdoped region (x  <  0.15) to the overdoped region (x  >  0.15). Application of the Fisher-Fisher-Huse (FFH) vortex glass scaling model to the magnetoresistance data was found to be insufficient to describe the data in the region of the vortex-solid to vortex-liquid transition. It was found instead that the modified vortex glass scaling model of Rydh, Rapp, and Anderson provided a good description of the data, indicating the importance of the applied field on the pinning landscape. A magnetic field versus temperature (H  -  T) phase diagram has also been constructed for the films with [Formula: see text], displaying the evolution of the vortex glass melting lines H _g (T) across the superconducting regime.

The Fermi surface and the role of electronic correlations in Sm(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4

Using a LDA+GTB (local density approximation+generalized tight-binding) hybrid scheme we investigate the band structure of the electron-doped high- T(c) material Sm(2-x)Ce(x)CuO(4). Parameters of the minimal tight-binding model for this system (the so-called three-band Emery model) were obtained within the NMTO (Nth-order muffin-tin orbital) method. The doping evolution of the dispersion and the Fermi surface in the presence of electronic correlations was investigated in two regimes of magnetic order: short-range (spin-liquid) and long-range (antiferromagnetic metal). Each regime is characterized by the specific topologies of the Fermi surfaces and we discuss their relation to recent experimental data.

Field-dependent diamagnetic transition in magnetic superconductor Sm1.85Ce0.15CuO4-y

The magnetic penetration depth of single crystal Sm(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) was measured down to 0.4 K in dc fields up to 7 kOe. For insulating Sm2CuO4, Sm3+ spins order at the Ne el temperature, T(N)=6 K, independent of the applied field. Superconducting Sm(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) (T(c) approximately 23 K) shows a sharp increase in diamagnetic screening below T(*)(H) which varied from 4.0 K (H=0) to 0.5 K (H=7 kOe) for a field along the c axis. If the field was aligned parallel to the conducting planes, T(*) remained unchanged. The unusual field dependence of T(*) indicates a spin-freezing transition that dramatically increases the superfluid density.

Anomalous magnetic field dependence of the thermodynamic transition line in the isotropic superconductor (K,Ba)BiO3

Thermodynamic (specific heat, reversible magnetization, tunneling spectroscopy) and transport measurements have been performed on high quality (K,Ba)BiO3 single crystals. The temperature dependence of the magnetic field H(C(p)) corresponding to the onset of the specific heat anomaly presents a clear positive curvature. H(C(p)) is significantly smaller than the field H(Delta) for which the superconducting gap vanishes but is closely related to the irreversibility line deduced from transport data. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the reversible magnetization presents a strong deviation from the Ginzburg-Landau theory emphasizing the peculiar nature of the superconducting transition in this material.