arXiv subjects

Frédéric Hardy

Publications and source records attributed to Frédéric Hardy.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Paradigm for finding d-electron heavy fermions: the case of Cr-doped CsFe$_2$As$_2$

We define a general strategy for finding new heavy-fermionic materials without rare-earth elements: doping a Hund metal with pronounced orbital-selective correlations towards half-filling. We argue that in general band structures a possible orbital-selective Mott transition is frustrated by inter-orbital hopping into heavy-fermion behaviour - where d-orbitals provide both the heavy and the light electrons - which is enhanced when approaching half-filling. This phase ultimately disappears due to magnetic correlations, as in a standard Doniach diagram. Experimentally we have further hole doped CsFe$_2$As$_2$, a Hund metal with 0.5 electrons/Fe away from half-filling, and obtained a heavy fermionic state with the highest Sommerfeld coefficient for Fe-pnictides to date (270 mJ/mol K$^2$), before signatures of an antiferromagnetic phase set in.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Charge-density-wave transitions, phase diagram, soft phonon and possible electronic nematicity: a thermodynamic investigation of BaNi2(As,P)2

A detailed investigation of BaNi2(As,P)2 single crystals using high-resolution thermal-expansion, heat-capacity,Young-modulus and resistivity measurements is presented. The experimental data are complemented by density-functional calculations. The phase diagram of BaNi2(As,P)2 is shown to be much richer than suggested by the original data of Kudo et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 097002 (2012)]. The transition to the commensurate charge-density-wave (C-CDW) is always preceded by a four-fold symmetry-breaking transition associated with the long-range ordering of a strongly fluctuating unidirectional incommensurate charge-density wave (I-CDW). Significant precursors above the I-CDW and C-CDW transitions are seen in the thermal expansion and resistivity and are particularly evident in the temperature dependence of the $c/a$ ratio of the lattice parameters. Heat-capacity measurements of the crystals with a higher P content and a higher critical temperature of 3.2 K uncover a Debye-like behavior of a soft-phonon mode with a very low Debye temperature of roughly 15 K. Associated with this soft phonon are unusually large thermal-expansion anomalies, resulting in logarithmically diverging uniaxial phonon Grueneisen parameters. Young-modulus data of these higher-Tc crystals exhibit a significant softening in both B1g and B2g channels, which is argued to be incompatible with nematic criticality and is rather associated with a broad phase transition to an hitherto unknown structure. Possible origins of the increase in the superconducting critical temperature with P-substitution are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Thermodynamic signatures of short-range magnetic correlations in UTe$_2$

The normal-state out of which unconventional superconductivity in UTe$_2$ emerges is studied in detail using a variety of thermodynamic and transport probes. Clear evidence for a broad Schottky-like anomaly with roughly R ln 2 entropy around $T^{*} \approx 12$K is observed in all measured quantities. Comparison with high magnetic field transport data allows the construction of an $H\text{-}T$ phase diagram resembling that of the ferromagnetic superconductor URhGe. The low field electronic Grüneisen parameter of $T^{*}$ and that of the metamagnetic transition at $H_m \approx 35$T are comparable pointing to a common origin of both phenomena. Enhanced Wilson and Korringa ratios suggests that the existence of short range ferromagnetic fluctuations cannot be ruled out.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Nodal gaps in the nematic superconductor FeSe from heat capacity

Superconductivity in FeSe has recently attracted a great deal of attention because it emerges out of an electronic nematic state of elusive character. Here we study both the electronic normal state and the superconducting gap structure using heat-capacity measurements on high-quality single crystals. The specific-heat curve, from 0.4 K to Tc = 9.1 K, is found to be consistent with a recent gap determination using Bogoliubov quasiparticle interference [P. O. Sprau et al., Science 357, 75 (2017)], however only if nodes are introduced on either the electron or the hole Fermi-surface sheets. Our analysis, which is consistent with quantum-oscillation measurements, relies on the presence of only two bands, and thus the fate of the theoretically predicted second electron pocket remains mysterious.

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arXiv2018

Large nematic susceptibility in the double-Q $C_{4}$ magnetic phase of Ba$_{1-x}$Na$_{x}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$

The nematic susceptibility of Ba$_{1-x}$Na$_{x}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ single crystals is studied by measuring the Young's modulus using a three-point-bending setup in a capacitance dilatometer over a wide doping range. Particular emphasis is placed on the behavior within the double-Q antiferromagnetic $C_{4}$ re-entrant phase. Here, we surprisingly still observe a sizable nematic susceptibility in spite of the well-developed magnetic order, consistent with recent theoretical calculations. Outside the $C_{4}$ re-entrant region, the behavior is very similar to that of K-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$. A significant coupling of superconductivity to the shear modulus is observed and is discussed in terms of strong competition between the superconducting and magnetic phases.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure effects in alpha-RuCl3 single crystals via thermal-expansion measurements

We present high-resolution thermal-expansion and specific-heat measurements of single crystalline alpha-RuCl3. An extremely hysteretic structural transition expanding over 100 K is observed by thermal- expansion along both crystallographic axes, which we attribute to a change of stacking sequence of the RuCl3 layers. Three magnetic transitions are observed, which we link to the different stacking sequences. Using our data and thermodynamic relations, we derive the uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure derivatives of all three magnetic transitions. Our results demonstrate that magnetic order should be totally suppressed by very moderate pressures of 0.3 GPa to 0.9 GPa. Finally, we discuss why our results differ from recent hydrostatic pressure measurements and suggest a possible route to reaching the spin-liquid state in alpha-RuCl3.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Evidence for short-range magnetic order in the nematic phase of FeSe from anisotropic in-plane magnetostriction and susceptibility measurements

The nature of the nematic state in FeSe remains one of the major unsolved mysteries in Fe- based superconductors. Both spin and orbital physics have been invoked to explain the origin of this phase. Here we present experimental evidence for frustrated, short-range magnetic order, as suggested by several recent theoretical works, in the nematic state of FeSe. We use a combination of magnetostriction, susceptibility and resistivity measurements to probe the in-plane anisotropies of the nematic state and its associated fluctuations. Despite the absence of long-range magnetic order in FeSe, we observe a sizable in-plane magnetic susceptibility anisotropy, which is responsible for the field-induced in-plane distortion inferred from magnetostriction measurements. Further we demonstrate that all three anisotropies in FeSe are very similar to those of BaFe2As2, which strongly suggests that the nematic phase in FeSe is also of magnetic origin.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Dichotomy between in-plane magnetic susceptibility and resistivity anisotropies in extremely strained $BaFe_{2}As_{2}$

The in-plane resistivity and uniform magnetic susceptibility anisotropies of $BaFe_{2}As_{2}$ are obtained with a new method, in which a large symmetry-breaking uniaxial strain is applied using a substrate with a very anisotropic thermal expansion. The resistivity anisotropy and its corresponding elastoresistivity exhibit very similar diverging behavior as those obtained from piezo-stack experiments. This suggests that the resistivity anisotropy is more a direct measure of magnetism than of nematicity, since the nematic transition is no longer well-defined under a large strain. In strong contrast to the large resistivity anisotropy above $T_{N}$, the anisotropy of the in-plane magnetic susceptibility develops largely below $T_{N}$. Using an itinerant model, we show that the observed anisotropy ($χ_{b}>χ_{a}$) is determined by spin-orbit coupling and the orientation of the magnetic moments in the antiferromagnetic phase, and that the anisotropy is dominated by intra-orbital ($yz,yz$) contributions of the Umklapp susceptibility.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Superconductivity-enhanced Nematicity and '$s+d$' Gap Symmetry in Fe(Se$_{1-x}$S$_x$)

Superconducting iron chalcogenide FeSe has the simplest crystal structure among all the Fe-based superconductors. Unlike other iron pnictides, FeSe exhibits no long range magnetic order accompanying the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural distortion, which raises the fundamental question about the role of magnetism and its associated spin fluctuations in mediating both nematicity and superconductivity. The extreme sensitivity of FeSe to external pressure suggests that chemical pressure, induced by substitution of Se by the smaller ion S, could also a be good tuning parameter to further study the coupling between superconductivity and nematicity and to obtain information on both the Fermi-surface changes and the symmetry of the superconducting state. Here we study the thermodynamic properties of Fe(Se$_{1-x}$S$_{x}$) for 3 compositions, $x=0$, 0.08 and 0.15, using heat-capacity and thermal-expansion measurements. With increasing S content we observe a significant reduction of the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition temperature T$_{s}$. However, this suppression of T$_{s}$ is counterintuitively accompanied by an enhancement of the orthorhombic distortion $δ$ below T$_c$, which clearly indicates that superconductivity favors the nematic state. In parallel, the superconducting transition temperature T$_{c}$ is sizeably enhanced, whereas the increase of the Sommerfeld coefficient $γ_{n}$ is quite moderate. In the T$\to$ 0 limit, an unusually large residual density of states is found for $x>0$ indicative of significant substitution-induced disorder. We discuss these observations in the context of $s+d$ superconducting-state symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Fermi surface reconstruction in FeSe under high pressure

We report Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillation measurements on FeSe under high pressure up to $P$ = 16.1 kbar. We find a sudden change in SdH oscillations at the onset of the pressure-induced antiferromagnetism at $P$ $\sim$ 8 kbar. We argue that this change can be attributed to a reconstruction of the Fermi surface by the antiferromagnetic order. The negative d$T_c$/d$P$ observed in a range between $P$ $\sim$ 8 and 12 kbar may be explained by the reduction in the density of states due to the reconstruction. The ratio of the transition temperature to the effective Fermi energy remains high under high pressure: $k_BT_c/E_F$ $\sim$ 0.1 even at $P$ = 16.1 kbar.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Doping dependence of the critical fluctuation regime in the Fe-based superconductor Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$

We investigate the importance of superconducting order parameter fluctuations in the 122 family of Fe-based superconductors, using high-resolution specific heat and thermal expansion data of various Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ single crystals covering a large range of the phase diagram from the strongly underdoped to the overdoped regime. By applying scaling relations of the 3d-XY and the 3d-Lowest-Landau-Level (3d-LLL) fluctuation models to data measured in different magnetic fields, we demonstrate that a strong increase of the critical fluctuation regime is responsible for the transition broadening in magnetic fields, which is a direct consequence of a magnetic-field-induced finite size effect due to a reduction of the effective dimensionality by a decreasing magnetic length scale related to the mean vortex separation and the confinement of quasiparticles in low Landau levels. The fluctuations are stronger in the underdoped and overdoped regimes and appear to be weakest at optimal doping.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Pressure-induced antiferromagnetic transition and phase diagram in FeSe

We report measurements of resistance and ac magnetic susceptibility on FeSe single crystals under high pressure up to 27.2 kbar. The structural phase transition is quickly suppressed with pressure, and the associated anomaly is not seen above $\sim$18 kbar. The superconducting transition temperature evolves nonmonotonically with pressure, showing a minimum at $\sim12$ kbar. We find another anomaly at 21.2 K at 11.6 kbar. This anomaly most likely corresponds to the antiferromagnetic phase transition found in $μ$SR measurements [M. Bendele \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{104}, 087003 (2010)]. The antiferromagnetic and superconducting transition temperatures both increase with pressure up to $\sim25$ kbar and then level off. The width of the superconducting transition anomalously broadens in the pressure range where the antiferromagnetism coexists.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Anomalous Fermi surface in FeSe seen by Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation measurements

We have observed Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in FeSe. The Fermi surface deviates significantly from predictions of band-structure calculations and most likely consists of one electron and one hole thin cylinder. The carrier density is in the order of 0.01 carriers/ Fe, an order-of-magnitude smaller than predicted. Effective Fermi energies as small as 3.6 meV are estimated. These findings call for elaborate theoretical investigations incorporating both electronic correlations and orbital ordering.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Thermal expansion and Grüneisen parameters of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 - a thermodynamic quest for quantum criticality

Thermal expansion data are used to study the uniaxial pressure dependence of the electronic/magnetic entropy of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2. Uniaxial pressure is found to be proportional to doping and, thus, also an appropriate tuning parameter in this system. Many of the features predicted to occur for a pressure-tuned quantum critical system, in which superconductivity is an emergent phase hiding the critical point, are observed. The electronic/magnetic Grüneisen parameters associated with the spin-density wave and superconducting transitions further demonstrate an intimate connection between both ordering phenomena.

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