Possible coexistence of superconductivity and magnetic order in NdPt2B2C

Coexistence of superconductivity and magnetic order has been one of the exciting aspects of the quaternary borocarbide superconductors, So far, RNi₂B₂C (R=Tm, Er, Ho and Dy) are the only known magnetic superconductors in this family. Here, we present our resistivity, magnetization and heat capacity studies on NdPt₂B₂C (nominal composition, NdPt_1.5Au_0.6B₂C and NdPt_2.1B_2.4C_1.2). We find superconductivity in both samples with T _c,onset ∼ 3 K. Bulk magnetic order is found to occur below 1.7 K. We suggest that NdPt₂B₂C is a possible magnetic superconductor.     

Unusual magnetic hysteresis behavior of oxide spinel MnCo2O4

Magnetic hysteresis behavior of the oxide spinel MnCo₂O₄ has been studied at different temperatures below its T_c≈184 K. Normal hysteresis behavior is observed down to 130 K whereas below this temperature the initial magnetization curve, at higher magnetic fields, lies outside the main loop. No related anomaly is observed in the temperature variation of magnetization or coercivity. However, the anisotropy field overcomes the coercivity below 130 K. The unusual magnetic hysteresis behavior of MnCo₂O₄, at low temperatures, may be associated with irreversible domain wall movements due to the rearrangement of the valence electrons.     

Weak itinerant ferromagnetism and clean superconductivity in Y9Co7

We present low-temperature magnetic properties for a high-quality polycrystalline sample of the first ferromagnetic superconductor Y₉Co₇. The results of susceptibility and magnetization measurements show the coexistence of a weak itinerant ferromagnetic order with a Curie temperature of T_C ? 4.5 K and superconductivity below T_S = 3 K. Several electronic quantities and parameters characterizing the superconducting and normal state are calculated within the Ginzburg–Landau–Abrikosov–Gorkov theory. The data reveal clean limit superconductivity in Y₉Co₇ due to the good chemical purity and structural order of the specimen.     

Magnetism in a UNi2/3Rh1/3Al single crystal

We report a magnetization, magnetostriction, electrical resistivity, specific heat and neutron scattering study of a UNi_2/3Rh_1/3Al single crystal, a solid solution of an antiferromagnet UNiAl and a ferromagnet URhAl. The huge uniaxial magnetic anisotropy confining the principal magnetic response to the c axis in the parent compounds persists also for the solid solution. The magnetization curve at 1.6 K has a pronounced S shape with an inflection at 12 T. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility exhibits a maximum around 10 K and is magnetic history dependent at lower temperatures where the resistivity increases linearly with decreasing temperature. The low-temperature ρ(T) anomaly is removed in a magnetic field applied along c, which yields a large negative magnetoresistance amounting to m46 zin 14T (at 2 K). The C/T values exhibit a minimum around 12 K and below 8 K they become nearly constant (about 250 mJ mol^?1 K^?2), which is strongly affected by magnetic fields. Neutron scattering data confirm a non-magnetic ground state of UNi_2/3Rh_1/3Al. The bulk properties at low temperatures are tentatively attributed to the freezing of U magnetic moments with antiferromagnetic correlations. The additional intensities detected on top of nuclear reflections in neutron diffraction in a magnetic field applied along c are found to be proportional to the field-induced magnetization, which reflects field-induced ferromagnetic coupling of U magnetic moments. This scenario is corroborated also by finding low-temperature magnetostriction data that also scale with the square of magnetization.     

Critical points in the Bragg glass phase of a weakly pinned crystal of Ca3Rh4Sn13

New experimental data are presented on the scan rate dependence of the magnetization hysteresis width ΔM(H) (∞ critical current densityJ _c(H)) in isothermalMH scans in a weakly pinned single crystal of Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃, which displays second magnetization peak (SMP) anomaly as distinct from the peak effect (PE). We observe an interesting modulation in the field dependence of a parameter which purports to measure the dynamical annealing of the disordered bundles of vortices injected through the sample edges towards the destined equilibrium vortex state at a givenH. These data, in conjunction with the earlier observations made while studying the thermomagnetic history dependence inJ _c(H) in the tracing of the minor hysteresis loops, imply that the partially disordered state heals towards the more ordered state between the peak field of the SMP anomaly and the onset field of the PE. The vortex phase diagram in the given crystal of Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃ has been updated in the context of the notion of the phase coexistence of the ordered and disordered regions between the onset field of the SMP anomaly and the spinodal line located just prior to the irreversibility line. A multi-critical point and a critical point in the (H,T) region of the Bragg glass phase have been marked in this phase diagram and the observed behavior is discussed in the light of recent data on multi-critical point in the vortex phase diagram in a single crystal of Nb.     

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8单晶中的反常尖锋效应

使用牛津震动样品磁强计(VSM)研究了Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈单晶的磁滞回线.在20到40K温度之间发现了反常的尖锋效应,随样品O含量的增加,发生尖锋效应的外场也相应提高.可以认为在尖峰效应处发生了由涡漩物质的有序固态到无序固态的相变,在有少量点缺陷存在的BSCCO单晶相图上,B_sp线终止于20K温度处,在20K以下温区没有发生准格子到涡漩玻璃的相变,涡漩固相始终以准格子形式存在;可以认为尖峰效 关键词： 2Sr₂CaCu₂O₈单晶')" href="#">Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈单晶 磁滞回线 尖锋效应 相变     

Superconductivity of F-substituted LnOBiS2 (Ln=La,Ce, Pr,Nd, Yb) compounds

Polycrystalline samples of F-substituted LnOBiS₂ (Ln?=?La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Yb) compounds were synthesized by solid-state reaction. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements and found to have the ZrCuSiAs crystal structure. Electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed on all of the samples and specific heat measurements were made on those with Ln?=?La, Ce, and Yb. All of these compounds exhibit superconductivity in the range 1.9?K–5.4?K, which has not previously been reported for the compounds based on Ce, Pr, and Yb. The YbO_0.5F_0.5BiS₂ compound was also found to exhibit magnetic order at ～2.7?K that apparently coexists with superconductivity below 5.4?K.     

Comment on magnetism and superconductivity in rutheno cuprates: RuSr2GdCu2O8 and RuSr2Gd1.5Ce0.5Cu2O10

Both RuSr₂GdCu₂O_8-δ (Ru-1212) and RuSr₂Gd_1.5Ce_0.5Cu₂O_10-δ (Ru-1222) exhibits magnetism and superconductivity, as seen by magnetization vs. temperature behavior measured in 5 Oe field. Zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetization data show branching at around 140 K and 100 K with a cusp at 135 K and 80 K and a diamagnetic transition around 20 K and 30 K in the ZFC part, for Ru-1212 and Ru-1222, respectively. The isothermal magnetization possesses a non-linear contribution due to a ferromagnetic component at low temperatures below 50 K for both samples. The resistance vs. temperature behavior of the samples in applied fields of 0, 3 and 7 T confirmed superconductivity, with a different type of broadening of the superconductivity transition under magnetic fields for Ru-1212 from that known for conventional high-T _c superconductors. The magnetoresistance (MR) is negative above the Ru magnetic ordering temperature at 135 K. Below the Ru magnetic ordering temperature, MR displays a positive peak at low fields and becomes negative at higher fields for Ru-1212. For Ru-1222, MR remains negative both above and below the ordering temperature. A maximum of 2% is observed for the negative MR value at the Ru magnetic ordering temperature. An electron diffraction pattern obtained for the Ru-1212 sample shows two types of superstructure: one has a weak spot at the centre of the a–b rectangle, and the other only along the b direction. Interestingly, Ru-1222 shows only clean a–b and a–c planes, without any superstructures.     

NMR and magnetic studies on 7 K anomaly in Tl3H(SO4)2

Measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation time, NMR absorption line and magnetization have been carried out on the Tl₃H(SO₄)₂ crystal below 50 K. The anomaly at around 7 K was: (1) the spin-lattice relaxation times of ¹H and ²⁰⁵Tl nuclei increase steeply with decreasing temperature below 7 K, (2) the NMR absorption lines below 7 K shift to the high-magnetic field side in comparison with that above 7 K, and (3) the ¹H NMR line width exhibits a drastic increase of the line width with decreasing temperature below 7 K. These results indicate that the magnetic dipole fluctuation of the proton changes at 7 K. On the other hand, there are no remarkable anomalies of magnetic susceptibility at around 7 K. From these results it is deduced that the anomaly at around 7 K is caused by the change in quantum mechanical process of the proton from proton tunneling to zero-point vibration of hydrogen in the hydrogen bond with the decrease of temperature.     

Bulk properties of the UCoGe Kondo-like system

We report on extensive experimental investigations of a single crystal of the orthorhombic uranium compound UCoGe. Bulk measurements on as-grown and annealed single crystals, recording magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistivity, thermopower, thermal conductivity and heat capacity data do not reproduce the previously reported coexistence of ferromagnetism with superconductivity. The latter phenomenon was only observed for the annealed sample at T _SC = 0.65 K. New observations show a crossover at around 13 K, visible in thermal and transport measurements as well as the coherent state around 50 K, signaled by a wide knee in ρ(T). Above this temperature, UCoGe exhibits a single-ion Kondo-like effect. The magnetoresistivity of the annealed single crystal increases negatively down to 4.2 K, reaching as a large value about ?27% at a field of 8 T. The latter may be interpreted in terms of fairly strong magnetic fluctuations existing in UCoGe at low temperatures.     

Magnetic phase transitions in Nd7Rh3 single crystal

Magnetic phase transitions in rare earth intermetallic compound Nd₇Rh₃ have been investigated using a single crystal. Measurement results of magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, and electrical resistivity reveal that Nd₇Rh₃ has two magnetic phase transitions at T_N=34 K, T_t2=9.1 K and a change of the magnetic feature at T_t1=6.8 K in the absence of an external magnetic field. Antiferromagnetic orderings exist in all the three magnetic states; a large magnetic anisotropy between the c-axis and the c-plane is observed. In the magnetic phase below T_t2, an irreversible field-induced magnetic phase transition takes place in the c-plane; after removing external magnetic field, a coexistence state of ferro- and antiferromagnetic ordering or a ferrimagnetic state having a remanent magnetization M_R is stabilized. The M_R decays to a certain value for several hours after the first process; a magnetic field cooling effect was also observed in the c-plane below T_t2. In the antiferromagentic state above T_t2, the irreversibility disappears and an ordinary antiferromagnetic state takes place. As the origin of this phenomenon, a kind of martensitic structural transition that is observed in Gd₅Ge₄ can be considered.     

Magnetic susceptibility and magnetic-field behavior of CuB2O4 copper metaborate

An experimental study is reported regarding the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of a CuB₂O₄ tetragonal single crystal within the 4.2–200-K range. It has been established that the magnetic susceptibility exhibits anomalies at 21 and 10 K and depends strongly on crystal orientation in the magnetic field. A study has been carried out of the field dependences of the magnetization of CuB₂O₄ at various temperatures and crystal orientations. It is shown that for T>21 K, the crystal is in a paramagnetic state determined by Cu²⁺ copper ions with an effective magnetic moment of 1.77 μ_B. Within the 10–21 K interval, the field dependence of the magnetization is typical of a weak ferromagnet with magnetic moments of the two antiferromagnetically coupled sublattices lying in the tetragonal plane of the crystal. The spontaneous weakly-ferromagnetic moment is 0.56 emu/g at 10 K. The canting angle of the sublattice magnetic moments, determined by the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction, is 0.49°. It is believed that below 10 K, the CuB₂O₄ crystal retains its easy-plane magnetic structure, but with a zero spontaneous magnetic moment.     

Transport,magnetic, and thermal properties of non-centrosymmetric Yb2Co12P7

We report magnetization and specific heat measurements down to 2?K and electrical resistivity down to millikelvin temperatures on polycrystalline samples of the non-centrosymmetric compound Yb₂Co₁₂P₇. In addition to the previously reported ferromagnetic ordering of the cobalt sub-lattice at T _C ?=?136?K we find a magnetic transition below T _M ?=?5?K that is likely associated with ordering of the Yb ions. The broad nature of the specific heat anomaly suggests disordered magnetism and possible short-range correlations well above T_M .     

Magnetic properties of the Nd<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Gd<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>(BO<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>4</Subscript> single crystal

The magnetic properties of the Nd_0.5Gd_0.5Fe₃(BO₃)₄ single crystal have been studied in principal crystallographic directions in magnetic fields to 90 kG in the temperature range 2–300 K; in addition, the heat capacity has been measured in the range 2–300 K. It has been found that, below the Néel temperature T _N = 32 K down to 2 K, the single crystal exhibits an easy-plane antiferromagnetic structure. A hysteresis has been detected during magnetization of the crystal in the easy plane in fields of 1.0–3.5 kG, and a singularity has been found in the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility in the easy plane at a temperature of 11 K in fields B < 1 kG. It has been shown that the singularity is due to appearance of the hysteresis. The origin of the magnetic properties of the crystal near the hysteresis has been discussed.     

Low-temperature behavior of specific heat curves in ruthenocuprate RuSr<Subscript>2</Subscript>Gd<Subscript>1.5</Subscript>Ge<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>10 − δ</Subscript>: Superconducting,magnetic and crossing-point effects

Magnetic and superconducting properties of polycrystalline samples of RuSr₂Gd_1.5Ce_0.5Cu₂O_{(10 − δ)}, asprepared (by solid-state reaction) and annealed in pure oxygen at different pressure are presented. Specific heat and magnetization were investigated in the temperature range 1.8–300 K with a magnetic field up to 8 T. Specific heat, C (T), shows a jump at the superconducting transition (with onset at T ≈ 37.5 K) and a Schottky-type anomaly below 20 K. It is found that curves C(T) taken for different values of magnetic field have the same crossing point (at T _* ≈ 2.7 K) for all samples studied. At the same time, C(H) curves taken for different temperatures have a crossing point at a characteristic field H _* ≈ 3.7 T. These effects are manifestations of the crossing-point phenomenon, which is supposed to be inherent for strongly correlated electron systems.     

Magnetism of UCoGe and U3Co4Ge7

A series of UCoGe and U₃Co₄Ge₇ polycrystalline samples has been prepared by arc melting and studied with respect to the phase composition and crystal structure, magnetization, a.c. susceptibility, electrical-resistivity and specific-heat behavior (down to 350 mK). U₃Co₄Ge₇ has been found to exhibit a spontaneous magnetization below T_C=21 K. Clear anomalies at T_C typical for a ferromagnetic transition have been observed in a.c. susceptibility, electrical-resistivity and specific-heat data. No additional anomaly, which would indicate the second magnetic phase transition below T_C reported in the literature, has been indicated. In all our UCoGe samples a transition to superconductivity has been revealed. On the other hand, no clear evidence of any transition to ferromagnetism with zero-field cooling down to 1.8 K has been obtained. The zero-field state is most probably governed by strong ferromagnetic spin fluctuations and seems to transform to a ferromagnetic state only when applying a magnetic field ≥10 mT. Simultaneously, an increase of the superconducting transition temperature is increasing with a magnetic field up to 10 mT and starts to decrease when increasing the field above this value. Measurements on bulk samples, which are by rule textured, indicate strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy in both investigated compounds.     

Specific heat of EuIn2P2 at high magnetic fields

We have carried out specific heat measurements on EuIn₂P₂ at high magnetic fields perpendicular to the c-axis in the hexagonal crystal structure in order to understand its thermal properties. The temperature dependence of the specific heat exhibits a clear λ-type anomaly due to a magnetic transition at , indicating that the magnetic transition is of second-order. The λ-type anomaly becomes markedly broader with increasing the magnetic field. This remarkable field-dependence is consistent with the results of previous magnetization measurements which suggest that Eu²⁺ magnetic moments align ferromagnetically perpendicular to the c-axis below T_C. In addition, a hump in the specific heat is observed around 7 K, which can be ascribed to the Zeeman splitting of the Eu²⁺ multiplet by internal magnetic fields.     

Magnetization anomaly in metamagnetic superconductors

The magnetization in the tetragonal c-plane was measured below T_N using a single crystal of bct ErRh₄B₄. The magnetization decreases with increasing magnetic field in a field range just below the metamagnetic transition. This magnetization anomaly is explained by the fact that the entrance of the vortices is suppressed by an increase of the vortex core energy due to the precursor metamagnetic transition in the core around metamagnetic transition field.     

Low temperature studies on magnetic properties of Tm2O3

Magnetic properties of Tm₂O₃ were studied by means of magnetometry as well as by heat capacity measurements. The specific heat data were collected down to 0.35 K, and yielded some new information about crystal field splitting of the ³H₆ thulium multiplet. Some anomalous behaviour of the specific heat below 5 K was observed. It turned out, that this anomaly can be nicely described by Schottky contribution originating from crystal field levels distribution of the Tm³⁺ multiplet. No magnetic ordering was evidenced down to the lowest temperatures studied.     

Magnetization study of mercurocuprate (Hg,Re)Sr2CuO4+δ

The nominal (Hg_1−x Re _x )Sr₂CuO_4+δ (x=0.10 and 0.20) samples were synthesized at ∼ 920°C in partial vacuum. The compound with x=0.10 exhibits superconductivity at ∼ 54 K while the composition x=0.20 is non-superconducting down to 5 K. On cooling below 10 K in an applied field of 4 kOe, the former causes a noticeable upturn in the field cooled (FC) magnetization signal. Such a change in magnetic response is also reflected in the magnetic hysteresis loop generated at 9 K. We attribute this effect to a paramagnetic contribution arising from Re in (Hg,Re)-1201 phase.