Non-conventional superconducting fluctuations in Ba(Fe1-xRhx)2As2 iron-based superconductors

We measured the static uniform spin susceptibility of Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Rh$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ iron-based superconductors, over a broad range of doping ($0.041\leq x\leq 0.094$) and magnetic fields. At small fields ($H \le$ 1 kOe) we observed, above the transition temperature $T_c$, the occurrence of precursor diamagnetism, which is not ascribable to the Ginzburg-Landau theory. On the contrary, our data fit a phase fluctuation model, which has been used to interpret a similar phenomenology occurring in the high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors. On the other hand, in presence of strong fields the unconventional fluctuating diamagnetism is suppressed, whereas 3D fluctuations are found, in agreement with literature

Signatures of quantum criticality in the thermopower of Ba(Fe(1-x)Co(x))2As2

We demonstrate that the thermopower (S) can be used to probe the spin fluctuations (SFs) in proximity to the quantum critical point (QCP) in Fe-based superconductors. The sensitivity of S to the entropy of charge carriers allows us to observe an increase of S/T in Ba(Fe(1-x)Co(x))2As2 close to the spin-density-wave (SDW) QCP. This behavior is due to the coupling of low-energy conduction electrons to two-dimensional SFs, similar to heavy-fermion systems. The low-temperature enhancement of S/T in the Co substitution range 0.02 < x < 0.1 is bordered by two Lifshitz transitions, and it corresponds to the superconducting region, where a similarity between the electron and non-reconstructed hole pockets exists. The maximal S/T is observed in proximity to the commensurate-to-incommensurate SDW transition, for critical x_c ~ 0.05, close to the highest superconducting T_c. This analysis indicates that low-T thermopower is influenced by critical spin fluctuations which are important for the superconducting mechanism

Effect of proton irradiation on the normal state low-energy excitations of Ba(Fe1−x_{1-x}Rhx_x)2_2As2_2 superconductors

We present a \asnmr Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and resistivity study of the effect of 5.5 MeV proton irradiation on the optimal electron doped ($x=$ 0.068) and overdoped ($x=$ 0.107) Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Rh$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ iron based superconductors. While the proton induced defects only mildly suppress the critical temperature and increase residual resistivity in both compositions, sizable broadening of the NMR spectra was observed in all the irradiated samples at low temperature. The effect is significantly stronger in the optimally doped sample where the Curie Weiss temperature dependence of the line width suggests the onset of ferromagnetic correlations coexisting with superconductivity at the nanoscale. 1/T$_2$ measurements revealed that the energy barrier characterizing the low energy spin fluctuations of these compounds is enhanced upon proton irradiation, suggesting that the defects are likely slowing down the fluctuations between ($0,\pi)$ and ($\pi$,0) nematic ground states.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Anisotropic thermal expansion of AEFe2As2 (AE = Ba, Sr, Ca) single crystals

We report anisotropic thermal expansion of the parent, AEFe2As2 (AE = Ba, Sr, and Ca), compounds. Above the structural/antiferromagnetic phase transition anisotropy of the thermal expansion coefficients is observed, with the coefficient along the a-axis being significantly smaller than the coefficient for the c-axis. The high temperature (200 K < T < 300 K) coefficients themselves have similar values for the compounds studied. The sharp anomalies associated with the structural/antiferromagnetic phase transitions are clearly seen in the thermal expansion measurements. For all three pure compounds the "average" a-value increases and the c-lattice parameter decreases on warming through the transition with the smallest change in the lattice parameters observed for SrFe2As2. The data are in general agreement with the literature data from X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments

Strong Enhancement of the Critical Current at the Antiferromagnetic Transition in ErNi2B2C Single Crystals

We report on transport and magnetization measurements of the critical current density Jc in ErNi2B2C single crystals that show strongly enhanced vortex pinning at the Neel temperature TN and low applied fields. The height of the observed Jc peak decreases with increasing magnetic field in clear contrast with that of the peak effect found at the upper critical field. We also performed the first angular transport measurements of Jc ever conducted on this compound. They reveal the correlated nature of this pinning enhancement, which we attribute to the formation of antiphase boundaries at TN.Comment: 3 figure

Effects of mixed rare earth occupancy on the low temperature properties of (R, R',R''...)Ni2Ge2 single crystals

Temperature and applied magnetic field dependent magnetization measurements on 34 single crystalline samples of (R, R',R''...)Ni2Ge2 compounds (R, R', R'', etc. being primarily Gd-Lu, Y), were made. These measurements reveal that, despite extremes in local moment anisotropy, the average de Gennes parameter is a remarkably good predictor of the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic ordering temperature. In addition, the pronounced metamagnetic phase transitions seen in the low temperature phase of TbNi2Ge2 are found to be remarkably robust to high substitution levels of Gd and 25% substitutions of other heavy rare earths

Angular dependent planar metamagnetism in the hexagonal compounds TbPtIn and TmAgGe

Detailed magnetization measurements, M(T,H,theta), were performed on single crystals of TbPtIn and TmAgGe (both members of the hexagonal Fe_2P/ZrNiAl structure type), for the magnetic field H applied perpendicular to the crystallographic c axis. These data allowed us to identify, for each compound, the easy-axes for the magnetization, which coincided with high symmetry directions ([120] for TbPtIn and [110] for TmAgGe). For fixed orientations of the field along each of the two six-fold symmetry axes, a number of magnetically ordered phases is being revealed by M(H,T) measurements below T_N. Moreover, T ~ 2 K, M(H)|_theta measurements for both compounds (with H applied parallel to the basal plane), as well as T = 20 K data for TbPtIn, reveal five metamagnetic transitions with simple angular dependencies: H_{ci,j} ~ 1/cos(theta +/- phi), where phi = 0^0 or 60^0. The high field magnetization state varies with theta like 2/3*mu_{sat}(R^{3+})*cos(theta), and corresponds to a crystal field limited saturated paramagnetic, CL-SPM, state. Analysis of these data allowed us to model the angular dependence of the locally saturated magnetizations M_{sat} and critical fields H_c with a three coplanar Ising-like model, in which the magnetic moments are assumed to be parallel to three adjacent easy axes. Furthermore, net distributions of moments were inferred based on the measured data and the proposed model