Search

We report Nernst effect measurements for some crystalline films of Ca and Zn-doped yttrium barium copper oxide grown by pulsed laser deposition. We argue that our results and most of the published data for LSCO are consistent with the theory of Gaussian superconducting fluctuations., Comment: 4 pages 4 figures

Topological semimetals are systems in which conduction and valence bands cross each other and the crossings are protected by topological constraints. These materials provide intriguing tests for fundamental theories, while their unique physical properties promise a wide range of possible applications in low-power spintronics, optoelectronics, quantum computing and green energy harvesting. Here we report our study of the thermoelectric power of single-crystalline ZrSiS that is believed to be a topological nodal-line semimetal. We show that the thermoelectric power is an extremely sensitive probe of multiple quantum oscillations that are visible in ZrSiS at temperatures as high as 100 K. Two of these oscillations are shown to arise from three- and two-dimensional electronic bands, each with linear dispersion and the additional Berry phase predicted theoretically for materials with non-trivial topology. Our work not only provides further information on ZrSiS but also suggests a different route for studying other topological semimetals., Studies of quantum oscillations provide a valuable probe into the electronic structure of topological semimetals. Matusiak et al. demonstrate that quantum features in ZrSiS can be probed with greater sensitivity using diffusive thermopower than magnetization and electrical resistivity approaches.

Using a high-resolution differential technique we have determined the electronic specific heat coefficient gamma(T) of Ba1-xKxFe2As2 with x=0 to 1.0, at temperatures (T) from 2K to 380K and in magnetic fields H=0 to 13T. In the normal state gamma_n(x,T) increases strongly with x at low temperature, compatible with a mass renormalisation ~12 at x=1, and decreases weakly with x at high temperature. A superconducting transition is seen in all samples from x=0.2 to 1, with transition temperatures and condensation energies peaking sharply at x=0.4. Superconducting coherence lengths xi_{ab}~20{\AA} and xi_c~3{\AA} are estimated from an analysis of Gaussian fluctuations. For many dopings we see features in the H and T-dependences of gamma_s(T,H) in the superconducting state that suggest superconducting gaps in three distinct bands. A broad "knee" and a sharp mean-field-like peak are typical of two coupled gaps. However, several samples show a shoulder above the sharp peak with an abrupt onset at T_{c,s} and a T-dependence gamma_s(T)\propto\sqrt{1-T/T_{c,s}}. We provide strong evidence that the shoulder is not due to doping inhomogeneity and suggest it is a distinct gap with an unconventional T-dependence Delta_s(T)\propto(1-T/T_{c,s})^{0.75} near T_{c,s}. We estimate band fractions and T=0 gaps from 3-band alpha-model fits to our data and compare the x-dependences of the band fractions with spectroscopic studies of the Fermi surface., We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK (Grant No. EP/G001375/1) and the Swiss National Science Foundation pool MaNEP.

We report intrinsic tunneling data for mesa structures fabricated on three over- and optimally-doped Bi2.15Sr1.85CaCu2O8+δ crystals with transition temperatures of 86–78 K and 0.16–0.19 holes per CuO2 unit, for a wide range of temperature (T) and applied magnetic field (H), primarily focusing on one overdoped crystal (OD80). The differential conductance above the gap edge shows a clear dip structure which is highly suggestive of strong coupling to a narrow boson mode. Data below the gap edge suggest that tunnelling is weaker near the nodes of the d-wave gap and give clear evidence for strong T-dependent pair breaking. These findings could help theorists make a detailed Eliashberg analysis and thereby contribute towards understanding the pairing mechanism. We show that for our OD80 crystal the gap above Tc, although large, is reasonably consistent with the theory of superconducting fluctuations.

© 2016 American Physical Society. We report measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of twinned single crystals of YBa2Cu3O6+x from just above their superconducting transition temperatures to 300 K with magnetic fields of up to 5 T applied parallel and perpendicular to the CuO2 planes at seven values of x. Appropriate analysis allows the relatively small, but still important, Curie terms to be separated from other contributions to the susceptibility. Our data support a picture in which the Curie terms arise from oxygen disorder in the Cu-O chains. This agrees with published work on polycrystalline samples where the sample cooling rate was varied, but here we show that the Curie plots flatten out above 200 K. We identify small effects of charge density wave (CDW) instabilities in the temperature (T) derivative of the in-plane susceptibility dχab(T)/dT and discuss their x dependence. For x=0.67 we make a detailed comparison with published high energy x-ray diffraction data using a minimal model involving Fermi arcs, thereby obtaining values for the CDW energy gap and the Helmholtz free energy in a coherence volume. At 80 and 100 K the latter is comparable with, or smaller than, kBT, respectively, highlighting the probable importance of thermal fluctuations. We note that the effect of the Lorentz force on charge carriers in the Fermi arcs could provide a simple mechanism for enhancing the CDWs in high magnetic fields, as suggested by recent experiments.

We report measurements of ac susceptibility and hence the in-plane London penetration depth on the same samples of Bi2.15Sr1.85CaCu2O8+δ and Bi2.1Sr1.9Ca0.85Y0.15Cu2O8+δ for many values of the hole concentration (p). These support the scenario in which the pseudogap weakens the superconducting response only for p≲0.19.