Search

Junctions and interfaces consisting of unconventional superconductors provide an excellent experimental playground to study exotic phenomena related to the phase of the order parameter. Not only the complex structure of unconventional order parameters have an impact on the Josephson effects, but also may profoundly alter the quasi-particle excitation spectrum near a junction. Here, by using spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy, we visualize the spatial evolution of the local density of states (LDOS) near twin boundaries (TBs) of the nodal superconductor FeSe. The $\pi/2$ rotation of the crystallographic orientation across the TB twists the structure of the unconventional order parameter, which may, in principle, bring about a zero-energy LDOS peak at the TB. The LDOS at the TB observed in our study, in contrast, does not exhibit any signature of a zero-energy peak and an apparent gap amplitude remains finite all the way across the TB. The low-energy quasiparticle excitations associated with the gap nodes are affected by the TB over a distance more than an order of magnitude larger than the coherence length $\xi_{ab}$. The modification of the low-energy states is even more prominent in the region between two neighboring TBs separated by a distance $\approx7\xi_{ab}$. In this region the spectral weight near the Fermi level ($\approx\pm$0.2~meV) due to the nodal quasiparticle spectrum is almost completely removed. These behaviors suggest that the TB induces a fully-gapped state, invoking a possible twist of the order parameter structure which breaks time-reversal symmetry., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

Room-temperature and low-temperature (77 K) scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and voltage-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) data are used to study the local electronic properties of the quasi-one-dimensional Si(557)-Au surface in real space. A gapped local electron density of states near the Gamma-point is observed at different positions of the surface, i.e., at protrusions arising from Si adatoms and step-edge atoms. Within the gap region, two distinct peaks are observed on the chain of localized protrusions attributed to Si adatoms. The energy gap widens on both types of protrusions after cooling from room temperature to T = 77 K. The temperature dependence of the local electronic properties can therefore not be attributed to a Peierls transition occurring for the step edge only. We suggest that more attention should be paid to finite-size effects on the one-dimensional segments., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Chiral nematic liquid crystals sometimes form blue phases characterized by spirals twisting in different directions. By combining model calculations with neutron-scattering experiments, we show that the magnetic analogue of blue phases does form in the chiral itinerant magnet MnSi in a large part of the phase diagram. The properties of this blue phase explain a number of previously reported puzzling features of MnSi such as partial magnetic order and a two-component specific-heat and thermal-expansion anomaly at the magnetic transition.

Resistivity measurements have been made on Mn$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Si single crystals between 2 and 300K for $x$ = 0, 0.05, 0.08, 0.12 and 0.15. Fe doping is found to depress the magnetic ordering temperature from 30K for $x$ = 0 to below 2K for $x$ = 0.15. Although Fe doping results in a large increase of the low-temperature residual resistivity, the temperature dependence of the resistivity above the magnetic transition remains practically unaffected by increasing Fe content. An analysis of the temperature derivative of the resistivity provides strong evidence for the existence of a non-Fermi-liquid ground state near $x$ = 0.15 and thus for a quantum critical point tuned by Fe content., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Properties and Application of Thermoelectric Materials, Hvar, Croatia, 21-26 September 2008

We report the coexistence of ferromagnetic order and superconductivity in UCoGe at ambient pressure. Magnetization measurements show that UCoGe is a weak ferromagnet with a Curie temperature T_{C}= 3 K and a small ordered moment $m_{0}$= 0.03 $\mu_B$. Superconductivity is observed with a resistive transition temperature T_{s} = 0.8 K for the best sample. Thermal-expansion and specific-heat measurements provide solid evidence for bulk magnetism and superconductivity. The proximity to a ferromagnetic instability, the defect sensitivity of T_{s}, and the absence of Pauli limiting, suggest triplet superconductivity mediated by critical ferromagnetic fluctuations., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; PRL, in print

We have studied the pressure dependence of the magnetization of single crystalline CeSi_1.81. At ambient pressure ferromagnetism develops below T_C = 9.5 Below ~ 5 K an additional shoulder in low-field hysteresis loops and a metamagnetic crossover around 4 T suggest the appearance of an additional magnetic modulation to the ferromagnetic state. The suppression of the magnetic order in CeSi_1.81 as function of temperature at ambient pressure and as function of pressure at low temperature are in remarkable qualitative agreement. The continuous suppression of the ordered moment at p ~ 13.1 kbar suggests the existence of a ferromagnetic quantum critical point in this material., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Physical Review B

We show that the superconductivity observed recently in the weak itinerant ferromagnet ZrZn2 [C. Pfleiderer et al., Nature (London) 412, 58 (2001)] is due to remnants of a superconducting layer induced by spark erosion. Results of resistivity, susceptibility, specific heat and surface analysis measurements on high-quality ZrZn2 crystals show that cutting by spark erosion leaves a superconducting surface layer. The resistive superconducting transition is destroyed by chemically etching a layer of 5 microns from the sample. No signature of superconductivity is observed in rho(T) of etched samples at the lowest current density measured, J=675 Am-2, and at T < 45 mK. EDX analysis shows that spark-eroded surfaces are strongly Zn depleted. The simplest explanation of our results is that the superconductivity results from an alloy with higher Zr content than ZrZn2., Comment: Final published version

There are two views of antiferromagnets. The first proceeds from atomic physics, which predicts that atoms with unpaired electrons develop magnetic moments. In a solid, the coupling between moments on nearby ions then yields antiferromagnetic order at low temperatures. The second, based on the physics of electron fluids or 'Fermi liquids', states that Coulomb interactions can drive the fluid to adopt a more stable configuration by developing a spin density wave. It is presently unknown which view is appropriate at a `quantum critical point', where the antiferromagnetic transition temperature vanishes. Here we describe an atomically local contribution to the magnetic correlations which develops in the metal CeCu$_{6-x}$Au$_{x}$ at the critical gold concentration ($x_c=0.1$) where the magnetic ordering temperature is tuned to zero. This contribution implies that a Fermi-liquid destroying spin-localizing transition, unanticipated for the spin density wave description, coincides with the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.