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M. A. McGuire

Publications and source records attributed to M. A. McGuire.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2009

Itinerant antiferromagnetism in BaCr$_2$As$_2$

We report single crystal synthesis, specific heat and resistivity measurements and electronic structure calculations for BaCr$_2$As$_2$. This material is a metal with itinerant antiferromagnetism, similar to the parent phases of Fe-based high temperature superconductors, but differs in magnetic order. Comparison of bare band structure density of states and the low temperature specific heat implies a mass renormalization of $\sim$ 2. BaCr$_2$As$_2$ shows stronger transition metal - pnictogen covalency than the Fe compounds, and in this respect is more similar to BaMn$_2$As$_2$. This provides an explanation for the observation that Ni and Co doping is effective in the Fe-based superconductors, but Cr or Mn doping is not.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2009

Two-dimensional resonant magnetic excitation in BaFe1.84Co0.16As2

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on single crystals of superconducting BaFe1.84Co0.16As2 reveal a magnetic excitation located at wavevectors (1/2 1/2 L) in tetragonal notation. On cooling below TC, a clear resonance peak is observed at this wavevector with an energy of 8.6(0.5) meV, corresponding to 4.5(0.3) kBTC. This is in good agreement with the canonical value of 5 kBTC observed in the cuprates. The spectrum shows strong dispersion in the tetragonal plane but very weak dispersion along the c-axis, indicating that the magnetic fluctuations are two-dimensional in nature. This is in sharp contrast to the anisotropic three dimensional spin excitations seen in the undoped parent compounds.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2009

Bulk Superconductivity at 14 K in Single Crystals of Fe1+yTexSe1-x

Resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements are reported for single crystals of Fe1+yTexSe1-x grown via a modified Bridgeman method with 0 < y < 0.15, and x= 1, 0.9, 0.75, 0. 67, 0.55 and 0.5. Although resistivity measurements show traces of superconductivity near 14 K for all x except x=1, only crystals grown with compositions near x=0.5 exhibit bulk superconductivity. The appearance of bulk superconductivity correlates with a reduction in the magnitude of the magnetic susceptibility at room temperature and smaller values of y, the concentration of Fe in the Fe(2) site.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Renormalized behavior and proximity to a magnetic quantum critical point in BaCo$_2$As$_2$

We report synthesis and single crystal measurements of magnetic, transport and thermal properties of single crystalline BaCo$_2$As$_2$ as well as first principles calculations of the electronic structure and magnetic behavior. These results show that BaCo$_2$As$_2$ is a highly renormalized paramagnet in proximity to a quantum critical point, presumably of ferromagnetic character and that BaFeNiAs$_2$ behaves similarly. These results are discussed in relation to the properties of Ba(Fe,Co)$_2$As$_2$ and Ba(Fe,Ni)$_2$As$_2$, which are superconducting for low Co and Ni concentrations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Spin susceptibility, phase diagram, and quantum criticality in the electron-doped high Tc Superconductor Ba[Fe(1-x)Co(x)]2As2

We report a systematic investigation of Ba[Fe(1-x)Co(x)]2As2 based on transport and 75-As NMR measurements, and establish the electronic phase diagram. We demonstrate that doping progressively suppresses the uniform spin susceptibility and low frequency spin fluctuations. The optimum superconducting phase emerges at x_c~0.08 when the tendency toward spin ordering completely diminishes. Our findings point toward the presence of a quantum critical point near x_c between the SDW (spin density wave) and superconducting phases.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Evidence for Strong Itinerant Spin Fluctuations in the Normal State of CeFeAsO(0.89)F(0.11) Iron-Oxypnictides

The electronic structure in the normal state of CeFeAsO0.89F0.11 oxypnictide superconductors has been investigated with x-ray absorption and photoemission spectroscopy. All the data exhibit signatures of Fe d-electron itinerancy. Exchange multiplets appearing in the Fe 3s core level indicate the presence of itinerant spin fluctuations. These findings suggest that the underlying physics and the origin of superconductivity in these materials are likely to be quite different from those of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. These materials provide opportunities for elucidating the role of magnetic fluctuations in high-temperature superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

C-axis Phonons in Fe-As Based Superconductors Investigated by Inelastic X-ray Scattering

In Fe-As based superconductors magnetism and superconductivity show strong sensitivity to the lattice, suggesting a possibility of unconventional electron-phonon coupling. We investigated c-axis polarized phonons in doped and undoped BaFe2As2 by inelastic X-ray scattering. Phonon peak positions and linewidths did not vary significantly as a function of doping either by Co or by K. The linewidth of the Fe vibration shows unusual wavevector-dependence, which may be due to hybridization with in-plane modes. Comparison with the density functional theory shows significant difference for the energy of the As-As vibrations (Raman active at the zone center) but not for the Fe-As vibrations (infrared-active at the zone center). This behavior cannot be explained by a 10% softening of Fe-As interaction strength as proposed previously for in-plane polarized vibrations.

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arXiv2008

Pressure effects on the electron-doped high Tc superconductor BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As(2)

Application of pressures or electron-doping through Co substitution into Fe sites transforms the itinerant antiferromagnet BaFe(2)As(2) into a superconductor with the Tc exceeding 20K. We carried out systematic transport measurements of BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As(2) superconductors in pressures up to 2.5GPa, and elucidate the interplay between the effects of electron-doping and pressures. For the underdoped sample with nominal composition x = 0.08, application of pressure strongly suppresses a magnetic instability while enhancing Tc by nearly a factor of two from 11K to 21K. In contrast, the optimally doped x=0.20 sample shows very little enhancement of Tc=22K under applied pressure. Our results strongly suggest that the proximity to a magnetic instability is the key to the mechanism of superconductivity in iron-pnictides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

NMR measurements of intrinsic spin susceptibility in LaFeAsO(0.9)F(0.1)

We will probe the intrinsic behavior of spin susceptibility chi_(spin) in the LaFeAsO(1-x)F(x) superconductor (x ~ 0.1, Tc ~ 27K) using 19-F and 75-As NMR techniques. Our new results firmly establish the pseudo-gap behavior with Delta_(PG)/kB ~ 140K. The estimated magnitude of chi_(spin) at 290K, ~1.8x10^(-4) [emu/mol-Fe], is approximately twice larger than that in high Tc cuprates. We also show that chi_(spin) levels off below ~50K down to Tc.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

59-Co and 75-As NMR Investigation of Electron-Doped High Tc Superconductor BaFe(1.8)Co(0.2)As(2) (Tc = 22K)

We report an NMR investigation of the superconductivity in BaFe(2)As(2) induced by Co doping (Tc=22K). We demonstrate that Co atoms form an alloy with Fe atoms and donate carriers without creating localized moments. Our finding strongly suggests that the underlying physics of iron-pnictide superconductors is quite different from the widely accepted physical picture of high Tc cuprates as doped Mott insulators. We also show a crossover of electronic properties into a low temperature pseudo-gap phase with a pseudo-gap Delta 560K, where chi(spin) constant and resisitivty T. The NMR Knight shift below Tc decreases for both along the c-axis and ab-plane, and is consistent with the singlet pairing scenario.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Temperature and Spatial Dependence of the Superconducting and Pseudogap of NdFeAsO0.86F0.14

The discovery of superconductivity with a critical temperature exceeding 55 K in the iron-oxypnictides and related compounds has quite suddenly given the community a new set of materials - breaking the tyranny of copper. This new class of materials raises fundamental questions related to the origin of the electron pairing in the superconducting state and to the similarity to superconductivity in the cuprates. Here, we report spatially resolved measurements using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) of the newly discovered iron-based layered superconductor NdFeAsO0.86F0.14 (Tc = 48 K) as a function of temperature. The tunneling spectra at 17 K show a suppression of spectral intensity within +/- 10 meV, indicative of the opening of the superconducting gap (SG). Below Tc, the sample exhibits two characteristic gaps - a large one (18 meV) and a small one (9 meV) - existing in different spatial locations. Both gaps are closed above Tc at the bulk Tc, but only the small gap can be fitted with a superconducting gap function. This gap displays a BCS - like order parameter. Above Tc, at the same location where the small gap was observed, a pseudogap (PG) opens abruptly at a temperature just above Tc and closes at 120 K. In contrast to the cuprates, the SG and PG have competing order parameters.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Effect of pressure on the superconducting critical temperature of La[O_{0.89}F_{0.11}]FeAs and Ce[O_{0.88}F_{0.12}]FeAs

We have performed several high-pressure resistivity experiments on the recently discovered superconductors La[O_{0.89}F_{0.11}]FeAs and Ce[O_{0.88}F_{0.12}]FeAs. At ambient pressure, these materials have superconducting onset temperatures T_c of 28 K and 44 K, respectively. While the T_c of La[O_{0.89}F_{0.11}]FeAs goes through a maximum between 10-68 kbar, in qualitative agreement with a recent report by Takahashi et al., the T_c of Ce[O_{0.88}F_{0.12}]FeAs decreases monotonically over the measured pressure range. At 265 kbar, the T_c of the cerium-based compound has been suppressed below 1.1 K.

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arXiv2008

Phonon Density of States of LaFeAsO1-xFx

We have studied the phonon density of states (PDOS) in LaFeAsO1-xFx with inelastic neutron scattering methods. The PDOS of the parent compound(x=0) is very similar to the PDOS of samples optimally doped with fluorine to achieve the maximum Tc (x~0.1). Good agreement is found between the experimental PDOS and first-principle calculations with the exception of a small difference in Fe mode frequencies. The PDOS reported here is not consistent with conventional electron-phonon mediated superconductivity.

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arXiv2008

Comparative High Field Magneto-Transport of Rare Earth Oxypnictides with Maximum Transition Temperatures

The recent discovery of a new class of superconducting oxypnictides with high transition temperatures may have profound implications for understanding unconventional high-temperature superconductivity. Like the cuprates, the oxypnictides seem to manifest an interleaving of charge donor and superconducting layers emerging upon doping of an antiferromagnetic parent semi-metal. Here we report magneto-transport measurements of three rare earth (Re = La, Nd, Sm) oxypnicide compounds with the transition temperatures near the maximum reported to date, in very high DC and pulsed magnetic fields up to 45 and 54 T, respectively. Our resistivity, Hall coefficient and critical magnetic fields data suggest that these oxypnictide superconductors bridge the gap between MgB$_2$ and YBaCu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ as far as electromagnetic and vortex properties are concerned.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Evidence for the Spin Density Wave in LaFeAsO

This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to errors in the X-ray diffraction data. Other measured data are not affected; however, the errors significantly change the interpretation and conclusions, and thus warrant withdrawal and later resubmission.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Evidence for electromagnetic granularity in the polycrystalline iron-based superconductor LaO0.89F0.11FeAs

The new rare-earth arsenate superconductors are layered, low carrier density compounds with many similarities to the high-Tc cuprates. An important question is whether they also exhibit weak-coupling across randomly oriented grain-boundaries. In this work we show considerable evidence for such weak-coupling by study of the dependence of magnetization in bulk and powdered samples. Bulk sample magnetization curves show very little hysteresis while remanent magnetization shows almost no sample size dependence, even after powdering. We conclude that these samples exhibit substantial electromagnetic granularity on a scale approximating the grain size, though we cannot yet determine whether this is intrinsic or extrinsic.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2008

Very High Field Two-Band Superconductivity in LaFeAsO_0.89F_0.11

The ongoing search for new superconductors has recently yielded a new family of oxypnictides composed of alternating La_2O_{2-x}F_x and Fe_2As_2 layers [1-4] with transition temperatures T_c of 25-28 K, which can be raised to 40-43 K by replacing La with Ce [5] or Sm [6] or to 52 K by replacing La with Nd and Pr [7, 8]. Recent experiments and band structure calculations have suggested an unconventional multiband superconductivity in the layers of paramagnetic Fe ions, which would normally destroy superconductivity in the traditional mechanism of the s-wave Cooper pairing. Here we report very high-field resistance measurements up to 45T, which show a remarkable enhancement of the upper critical fields B_c2 at low temperatures, as compared to those expected from the already high slopes of dB_c2/dT ~ 2T/K near T_c . The deduced B_c2(0) ~ 63-65 T exceeds the paramagnetic limit, consistent with strong coupling and important two-band effects in LaFeAsO_0.89F_0.11. We argue that oxypnictides are emerging as a new class of high-field superconductors surpassing the B_c2 of Nb_3Sn, MgB_2, and the Chevrel phases and perhaps approaching the 100T field benchmark of the high-T_c cuprates.

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