arXiv subjects

F. Ronning

Publications and source records attributed to F. Ronning.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Controllable chirality-induced geometrical Hall effect in a frustrated highly-correlated metal

A current of electrons traversing a landscape of localized spins possessing non-coplanar magnetic order gains a geometrical (Berry) phase which can lead to a Hall voltage independent of the spin-orbit coupling within the material--a geometrical Hall effect. We show that the highly-correlated metal UCu5 possesses an unusually large controllable geometrical Hall effect at T<1.2K due to its frustration-induced magnetic order. The magnitude of the Hall response exceeds 20% of the ν=1 quantum Hall effect per atomic layer, which translates into an effective magnetic field of several hundred Tesla acting on the electrons. The existence of such a large geometric Hall response in UCu5 opens a new field of inquiry into the importance of the role of frustration in highly-correlated electron materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Specific Heat To Hc2: Evidence for Nodes or Deep Minima in the Superconducting Gap of Under- and Overdoped Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2

Low temperature specific heat, C, in magnetic fields up to Hc2 is reported for underdoped Ba(Fe0.955Co0.045)2As2 (Tc=8 K) and for three overdoped samples Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 (x=0.103, 0.13, and 0.15, Tc=17.2, 16.5, and 11.7 K respectively). Previous measurements of thermal conductivity (as a function of temperature and field) and penetration depth on comparable composition samples gave some disagreement as to whether there was fully gapped/nodal behavior in the under-/overdoped materials respectively. The present work shows that the measured behavior of the specific heat gamma (proportional to C/T as T->0, i. e. a measure of the electronic density of states at the Fermi energy) as a function of field approximately obeys gamma proportional to H**(0.5 +- 0.1), similar to the Volovik effect for nodal superconductors, for both the underdoped and the most overdoped Co samples. However, for the two overdoped compositions x=0.103 and 0.13, the low field (H < 10 T) data show a Volovik-like behavior of gamma proportional to H**(0.3-0.4), followed by an inflection point, followed at higher fields by gamma proportional to H**1. We argue that within the 2-band theory of superconductivity, an inflection point may occur if the interband coupling is dominant.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Direct measurement of the magnetic penetration depth by magnetic force microscopy

We present an experimental approach using magnetic force microscopy for measurements of the absolute value of the magnetic penetration depth $λ$ in superconductors. $λ$ is obtained in a simple and robust way without introducing any tip modeling procedure via direct comparison of the Meissner response curves for a material of interest to those measured on a reference sample. Using a well-characterized Nb film as a reference, we determine the absolute value of $λ$ in a Ba(Fe$_{0.92}$Co$_{0.08}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ single crystal and a MgB$_2$ thin film through a comparative experiment. Our apparatus features simultaneous loading of multiple samples, and allows straightforward measurement of the absolute value of $λ$ in superconducting thin film or single crystal samples.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Superconductivity in the Heusler Family of Intermetallics

Several physical properties of the superconducting Heusler compounds, focusing on two systems (Y, Lu, Sc)Pd2Sn and APd2M, where A=Hf, Zr and M=Al, In, are summarized and compared. The analysis of the data shows the importance of the electron-phonon coupling for superconductivity in this family. We report the superconducting parameters of YPd2Sn, which has the highest Tc among all known Heusler superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Observation of the hybridization gap and Fano resonance in the Kondo lattice URu2Si2

The nature of the second order phase transition that occurs in URu2Si2 at 17.5 K remains puzzling despite intensive research over the past two and half decades. A key question emerging in the field is whether a hybridization gap between the renormalized bands can be identified as the long-sought 'hidden' order parameter. We report on the measurement of a hybridization gap in URu2Si2 employing a spectroscopic technique based on quasiparticle scattering across a ballistic metallic junction. The differential conductance exhibits an asymmetric double-peak structure, a clear signature for a Fano resonance in a Kondo lattice. The extracted hybridization gap opens well above the transition temperature, indicating that it is not the hidden order parameter. Our results put stringent constraints on the origin of the hidden order transition in URu2Si2 and demonstrate that quasiparticle scattering spectroscopy can probe the band renormalizations in a Kondo lattice via detection of a novel type of Fano resonance.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Evidence for +-s-wave pairing symmetry in LiFeAs: specific heat study

We report specific heat capacity measurements on a LiFeAs single crystal at temperatures down to 400 mK and magnetic fields up to 9 Tesla. A small specific heat jump at Tc and finite residual density of states at T=0 K in the superconducting (SC) state indicate that there are strong unitary scatterers that lead to states within the SC gap. A sub-linear magnetic field dependence of the Sommerfeld coefficient γ(H) at T=0 K is equally well fitted by both a nodal d-wave gap as well as a sign changing multiband \pm s-wave gap. When impurity effects are taken into account, however, the linear temperature dependence of the electronic specific heat C_{el}/T at low temperatures argues against a nodal d-wave superconducting gap. We conclude that the SC state of LiFeAs is most compatible with the multiband \pm s-wave SC state with the gap values Δ_{small}=0.46 Δ_{large}.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Superconducting gap structure of the 115's revisited

Density functional theory calculations of the electronic structure of Ce- and Pu-based heavy fermion superconductors in the so-called 115 family are performed. The gap equation is used to consider which superconducting order parameters are most favorable assuming a pairing interaction that is peaked at (π,π,q_z) - the wavevector for the antiferromagnetic ordering found in close proximity. In addition to the commonly accepted $d_{x^2-y^2}$ order parameter, there is evidence that an extended s-wave order parameter with nodes is also plausible. We discuss whether these results are consistent with current observations and possible measurements that could help distinguish between these scenarios.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Pressure-Tuned Point-Contact Spectroscopy of URu2Si2 from Hidden Order to Antiferromagnetic States: Similarity of the Fermi Surface Gapping

We report soft point-contact spectroscopy studies of URu2Si2 both in the hidder order (HO) and the large-moment antiferromagnetic (LMAF) states accessed by pressure. In the HO state at ambient pressure, the spectroscopy shows two asymmetric peaks around the Fermi energy that emerge below the hidden order temperature T_{HO}. In the LMAF state at higher pressures, the spectra are remarkably similar to those in the HO state, indicating a similar Fermi surface gapping in the HO and LMAF states and providing a new clue to unraveling the puzzling HO state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Heat-Capacity Measurements of Energy-Gap Nodes of the Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeIrIn5 Deep inside the Pressure-Dependent Dome Structure of its Superconducting Phase Diagram

We use heat capacity measurements as a function of field rotation to identify the nodal gap structure of CeIrIn5 at pressures to 2.05 GPa, deep inside its superconducting dome. A four-fold oscillation in the heat capacity at 0.3 K is observed for all pressures but with its sign reversed between 1.50 and 0.90 GPa. On the basis of recent theoretical models for the field-angle dependent specific heat, all data, including the sign reversal, imply a d{x^2-y^2} order parameter with nodes along [110], which constrains theoretical models of the pairing mechanism in CeIrIn5.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Anisotropic critical magnetic fluctuations in the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe

We report neutron scattering measurements of critical magnetic excitations in the weakly ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe. The strong non-Landau damping of the excitations we observe, although unusual has been found in another related ferromagnet, UGe2 at zero pressure. However, we also find there is a significant anisotropy of the magnetic correlation length in UCoGe that contrasts with an almost isotropic length for UGe2. The values of the magnetic correlation length and damping are found to be compatible with superconductivity on small Fermi surface pockets. The anisotropy may be important to explain why UCoGe is a superconductor at zero pressure while UGe2 is not.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Crystal fields, disorder, and antiferromagnetic short-range order in Yb0.24Sn0.76Ru

We report extensive measurements on a new compound (Yb0.24Sn0.76)Ru that crystallizes in the cubic CsCl structure. Valence band photoemission and L3 x-ray absorption show no divalent component in the 4f configuration of Yb. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) indicates that the eight-fold degenerate J-multiplet of Yb3+ is split by the crystalline electric field (CEF) into a Γ7 doublet ground state and a Γ8 quartet at an excitation energy 20 meV. The magnetic susceptibility can be fit very well by this CEF scheme under the assumption that a Γ6 excited state resides at 32 meV; however, the Γ8/Γ6 transition expected at 12 meV was not observed in the INS. The resistivity follows a Bloch- Grüneisen law shunted by a parallel resistor, as is typical of systems subject to phonon scattering with no apparent magnetic scattering. All of these properties can be understood as representing simple local moment behavior of the trivalent Yb ion. At 1 K, there is a peak in specific heat that is too broad to represent a magnetic phase transition, consistent with absence of magnetic reflections in neutron diffraction. On the other hand, this peak also is too narrow to represent the Kondo effect in the Γ7 ground state doublet. On the basis of the field-dependence of the specific heat, we argue that antiferromagnetic shortrange order (possibly co-existing with Kondo physics) occurs at low temperatures. The long-range magnetic order is suppressed because the Yb site occupancy is below the percolation threshold for this disordered compound.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Textured Superconducting State in the Heavy Fermion CeRhIn5

Anisotropic, spatially textured electronic states often emerge when the symmetry of the underlying crystalline structure is lowered. However, the possibility recently has been raised that novel electronic quantum states with real-space texture could arise in strongly correlated systems even without changing the underlying crystalline structure. Here we report evidence for such texture in the superconducting quantum fluid that is induced by pressure in the heavy-fermion compound CeRhIn5. When long-range antiferromagnetic order coexists with unconventional superconductivity, there is a significant temperature difference between resistively- and thermodynamically-determined transitions into the superconducting state, but this difference disappears in the absence of magnetism. Anisotropic transport behaviour near the superconducting transition in the coexisting phase signals the emergence of textured superconducting planes that are nucleated preferentially along the {100} planes and that appear without a change in crystal symmetry. We show that CeRhIn5 is not unique in exhibiting a difference between resistive and bulk superconducting transition temperatures, indicating that textured superconductivity may be a general consequence of coexisting orders.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Electronic Structure and Correlation Effects in PuCoIn5 as compared to PuCoGa5

Since their discovery nearly a decade ago, plutonium-based superconductors have attracted considerable interest, which is now heightened by the latest discovery of superconductivity in PuCoIn5. In the framework of density functional theory (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) together with dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), we present a comparative study of the electronic structure of PuCoIn5 with the related material, PuCoGa5. Overall, a similar GGA-based electronic structure, including the density of states, energy dispersion, and Fermi surface topology, was found for both compounds. The GGA Pu 5f band was narrower in PuCoIn5 than in PuCoGa5, resulting in an effective reduction of Kondo screening in the former system, as also shown by DMFT calculations. This phenomenon is due to the expanded lattice for PuCoIn5.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Electronic inhomogeneity in a Kondo lattice

Inhomogeneous electronic states resulting from entangled spin, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom are hallmarks of strongly correlated electron materials; such behavior has been observed in many classes of d-electron materials, including the high-Tc copper-oxide superconductors, manganites, and most recently the iron-pnictide superconductors. The complexity generated by competing phases in these materials constitutes a considerable theoretical challenge-one that still defies a complete description. Here, we report a new manifestation of electronic inhomogeneity in a strongly correlated f-electron system, using CeCoIn5 as an example. A thermodynamic analysis of its superconductivity, combined with nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements, shows that nonmagnetic impurities (Y, La, Yb, Th, Hg and Sn) locally suppress unconventional superconductivity, generating an inhomogeneous electronic "Swiss cheese" due to disrupted periodicity of the Kondo lattice. Our analysis may be generalized to include related systems, suggesting that electronic inhomogeneity should be considered broadly in Kondo lattice materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Quantum critical behavior in the heavy Fermion single crystal Ce(Ni$_{0.935}$Pd$_{0.065}$)$_2$Ge$_2$

We have performed magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, resistivity, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements on a single crystal of the heavy Fermion compound Ce(Ni$_{0.935}$Pd$_{0.065}$)$_2$Ge$_2$, which is believed to be close to a quantum critical point (QCP) at T = 0. At lowest temperature(1.8-3.5 K), the magnetic susceptibility behaves as $χ(T)-χ(0)$ $\propto$ $T^{-1/6}$ with $χ(0) = 0.032 \times 10^{-6}$ m$^3$/mole (0.0025 emu/mole). For $T<$ 1 K, the specific heat can be fit to the formula $ΔC/T = γ_0 - T^{1/2}$ with $γ_0$ of order 700 mJ/mole-K$^2$. The resistivity behaves as $ρ= ρ_0 + AT^{3/2}$ for temperatures below 2 K. This low temperature behavior for $γ(T)$ and $ρ(T)$ is in accord with the SCR theory of Moriya and Takimoto\cite{Moriya}. The inelastic neutron scattering spectra show a broad peak near 1.5 meV that appears to be independent of $Q$; we interpret this as Kondo scattering with $T_K =$ 17 K. In addition, the scattering is enhanced near $Q$=(1/2, 1/2, 0) with maximum scattering at $ΔE$ = 0.45 meV; we interpret this as scattering from antiferromagnetic fluctuations near the antiferromagnetic QCP.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Computationally-Driven Experimental Discovery of the CeIr$_4$In Compound

We present a combined experimental and computational methodology for the discovery of new materials. Density functional theory (DFT) formation energy calculations allow us to predict the stability of various hypothetical structures. We demonstrate this approach by computationally predicting the Ce-Ir-In ternary phase diagram. We predict previously-unknown compounds CeIr$_4$In and Ce$_2$Ir$_2$In to be stable. Subsequently, we successfully synthesize CeIr$_4$In and characterize it by X-ray diffraction. Magnetization and heat capacity measurements of CeIr$_4$In are reported. The correct prediction and discovery of CeIr$_4$In validates this approach for discovering new materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Fully gapped superconductivity in Ni-pnictide superconductors BaNi2As2 and SrNi2P2

We have performed low-temperature specific heat $C$ and thermal conductivity $κ$ measurements on the Ni-pnictide superconductors BaNi$_2$As$_2$ ($T_\mathrm{c}$=0.7 K and SrNi$_2$P$_2$ ($T_\mathrm{c}$=1.4 K). The temperature dependences $C(T)$ and $κ(T)$ of the two compounds are similar to the results of a number of s-wave superconductors. Furthermore, the concave field responses of the residual $κ$ for BaNi$_2$As$_2$ rules out the presence of nodes on the Fermi surfaces. We postulate that fully gapped superconductivity could be universal for Ni-pnictide superconductors. Specific heat data on Ba$_{0.6}$La$_{0.4}$Ni$_2$As$_2$ shows a mild suppression of $T_\mathrm{c}$ and $H_\mathrm{c2}$ relative to BaNi$_2$As$_2$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Effect of annealing on the specific heat of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2

We report on the effect of annealing on the temperature and field dependencies of the low temperature specific heat of the electron-doped Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ for under-(x = 0.045), optimal- (x = 0.08) and over-doped (x = 0.105 and 0.14) regimes. We observed that annealing significantly improves some superconducting characteristics in Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$. It considerably increases $T_{c}$, decreases $γ_{0}$ in the superconducting state and suppresses the Schottky-like contribution at very low temperatures. The improved sample quality allows for a better identification of the superconducting gap structure of these materials. We examine the effects of doping and annealing within a self-consistent framework for an extended s-wave pairing scenario. At optimal doping our data indicates the sample is fully gapped, while for both under and overdoped samples significant low-energy excitations possibly consistent with a nodal structure remain. The difference of sample quality offers a natural explanation for the variation in low temperature power laws observed by many techniques.

cond-mat.supr-con↗