Direct observation of spontaneous weak ferromagnetism in the superconductor ErNi2B2C

Neutron measurements show that superconducting ErNi2B2C (T(C) = 11 K) develops antiferromagnetic spin density wave magnetic order (T(N) = 6 K), which squares up with decreasing temperature yielding a series of higher-order magnetic Bragg peaks with odd harmonics. Below T(WFM) = 2.3 K where magnetization indicates a net moment develops, even-order Bragg peaks develop which low field (approximately 3 Oe) polarized beam measurements show are magnetic in origin. The data directly demonstrate the existence of a net magnetization with a periodicity of 20a, confirming the microscopic coexistence of spontaneous weak ferromagnetism with superconductivity.     

Ferromagnetic Josephson junction with precessing magnetization

The Josephson current in a diffusive superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction with precessing magnetization is calculated within the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity. When the junction is phase biased, a stationary current (without ac component) can flow through it despite the nonequilibrium condition. A large critical current is predicted due to a dynamically induced long range triplet proximity effect. Such an effect could be observed in a conventional hybrid device close to the ferromagnetic resonance.     

Observation of complex magnetic behavior in the perovskite rare earth copper oxide systems, R2CuO4

EPR, microwave absorption, and dc magnetization measurements were made on single crystals of the form R₂CuO₄, which are the host compounds for the newly discovered series of electron cuprate superconductors. These measurements reveal two characteristic transition temperatures associated with a novel complex magnetic behavior, including weak ferromagnetism, two sharp peaks in the low field DC magnetization, an unusual anisotropy in the EPR resonance field for R = Gd, and two additional anisotropic microwave absorption modes. The higher characteristic transition temperature, at ≈270K, is attributed to AF ordering of the Cu moments, and the lower, at ≤20K, to a spontaneous canted spin reorientation. An understanding of this magnetic behavior is important in order to ascertain its relationship to possible mechanisms of high temperature superconductivity.     

Magnetic and dielectric studies of multiferroic CuO nanoparticles confined to porous glass

Dc magnetization and ac electric permittivity were measured for the CuO-porous glass nanocomposite made and for pressed powder CuO. Magnetization curves showed a bend between two linear segments for both the nanocomposite and bulk cupric oxide at 230 K evidencing that the temperature of the transition from the paramagnetic into multiferroic phase did not change noticeably under nanoconfinement. Results suggested also a reduction of the temperature of the second transition into the collinear antiferromagnetic phase. ZFC and FC magnetizations were found to bifurcate for the nanocomposite and bulk CuO. The bifurcation was accompanied with peaks on ZFC magnetization.     

Unusual superconductivity and its physical properties

Physical properties are discussed, which, in principle, would allow us to distinguish between nontrivial superconductivity and superconductivity of the ordinary type thus establishing its superconducting class. These properties are: the anisotropy of the upper and low critical fields, the magnetization curve, some peculiarities of the penetration depth, the impedance behaviour etc. It is pointed out that these superconductors could possess some magnetic properties. The role of defects is investigated and, in particular, the possibility of the magnetization in these superconductors which originates from the presence of ordinary defects. The problem of nontrivial superconductivity is discussed in connection with available experimental data concerning new materials with the so-called “heavy fermions”.     

Indication of superconductivity at 35 K in graphite-sulfur composites

We report magnetization measurements performed on graphite-sulfur composites which demonstrate a clear superconducting behavior below the critical temperature T(c0) = 35 K. The Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect, screening supercurrents, and magnetization hysteresis loops characteristic of type-II superconductors were measured. The results indicate that the superconductivity occurs in a small sample fraction, possibly related to the sample surface.     

Ferromagnetic superconductivity driven by changing Fermi surface topology

We introduce a simple but powerful zero temperature Stoner model to explain the unusual phase dia-gram of the ferromagnetic superconductor, UGe2. Triplet superconductivity is driven in the ferromagnetic phase by tuning the majority spin Fermi level through one of two peaks in the paramagnetic density of states (DOS). Each peak is associated with a metamagnetic jump in magnetization. The twin-peak DOS may be derived from a tight-binding, quasi-one-dimensional band structure, inspired by previous band-structure calculations.     

Vortex Pinning due to Dynamic Spin-Vortex Interaction in aSuperconductor/Ferromagnet Multilayer

We investigate the mutual interaction between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in a Nb/Ni81 Ee19 multilayer by ac susceptibility measurements. Compared with a pure superconducting Nb film, the critical current density of the multilayer is apparently enhanced in a low magnetic field region but remains nearly the same in high magnetic fields, which indicates that a continuous ferromagnetic layer with in-plane magnetization can produce strong vortex pinning in a low field region. We interpret this unusual vortex-pinning phenomenon as a consequence of dynamic spin vortex interaction which induces a spin rotation following vortex movement. In addition, we propose that this dynamic interaction could be used for spin manipulation via a superconductor.     

Pressure-induced superconductivity in CaLi(2)

A search for superconductivity has been carried out on the hexagonal polymorph of Laves-phase CaLi(2), a compound for which Feng, Ashcroft, and Hoffmann predict highly anomalous behavior under pressure. No superconductivity is observed above 1.10 K at ambient pressure. However, high-pressure ac susceptibility and electrical resistivity studies to 81 GPa reveal bulk superconductivity in CaLi(2) at temperatures as high as 13 K. The normal-state resistivity displays a dramatic increase with pressure.     

Direct evidence of high temperature superconductivity in one-unit-cell FeSe films on SrTiO_3 substrate by transport and magnetization measurements

Zero resistance and Meissner effect are two crucial experimental evidences of superconductivity in determining a new kind of superconductor, which can be detected by transport and diamagnetic measurements. In this paper, we briefly review the main transport and magnetization results on the one unit cell(1-UC) Fe Se films grown on SrTiO3(STO) substrates from our team in recent years, which identify the high temperature superconductivity in 1-UC FeSe films.     

Model for superconductivity in ferromagnetic ZrZn2

We propose that superconductivity in the ferromagnetic state of ZrZn2 is stabilized by an exchange-type interaction between the magnetic moments of triplet-state Cooper pairs and the ferromagnetic magnetization density. This explains why superconductivity occurs in the ferromagnetic state only, and why it persists deep into the ferromagnetic state. The model of this article also yields a particular order parameter symmetry, which is a prediction that can be checked experimentally.     

Optimization of Pr(0.9)Ca(0.1)MnO(3) thin films and observation of coexisting spin-glass and ferromagnetic phases at low temperature

Optimization of thin films of small bandwidth manganite, Pr(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 (for x = 0.1), and their magnetic properties are investigated. Using different pulsed laser deposition (PLD) conditions, several films were deposited from the stoichiometric target material on SrTiO3 (001) substrate and their thorough structural and magnetic characterizations were carried out using x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), SQUID magnetometry and ac susceptibility measurements. A systematic investigation shows that irrespective of the growth temperature (between 550 and 750?°C), all the as-deposited films have twin boundaries and magnetic double phases. Post-annealing in partial or full oxygen pressure removes the extra phase and the twin boundaries. Zero-field-cooled magnetization data show an antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition at around 100 K whereas the field-cooled magnetization data exhibit a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition close to 120 K. However, depending on the oxygen treatments, the saturation magnetization and Curie temperature of the films change significantly. Redistribution of oxygen vacancies due to annealing treatments leading to a change in ratio of Mn3+ and Mn4+ in the films is observed from XPS measurements. Low temperature (below 100 K) dc magnetization of these films shows metamagnetic transition, high coercivity and irreversibility magnetizations, indicating the presence of a spin-glass phase at low temperature. The frequency dependent shift in spin-glass freezing temperature from ac susceptibility measurement confirms the coexistence of spin-glass and ferromagnetic phases in these samples at low temperature.     

Relation of Structure and Superconductivity in Self-Compensating Y1-χCaχBa2-χLaχCu3Oy

The self-compensating compound of Y1-χ CaχBa2-χLaχ Cu3Oy is synthesized through a solid-state reaction method with χ from 0.25 to 0.55. Structural and superconducting properties have been investigated by χ-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, and dc magnetization measurement, respectively. The impure peaks appear when χ is more than 0.5 in the diffraction pattern. Orthorhombic-tetragonal transition occurs at χ = 0.45. Some local structural parameters, such as Cu（1）-O（4）, Cu（2）-O（4） bond lengths, change randomly in a narrow range. The relationship between the character of （Ba/La）-O plane and Tc is rather interesting. We attribute the behaviour of superconductivity to the joint effects of these local structural parameters. The results give the evidence that the influence of the structural change on superconductivity is essential and independent of carrier concentration.     

Effect of a dc magnetic field on the magnetization relaxation of uniaxial single-domain ferromagnetic particles driven by a strong ac magnetic field

The nonlinear ac stationary response of the magnetization of noninteracting uniaxial single-domain ferromagnetic particles acted on by superimposed dc and ac magnetic fields applied along the anisotropy axis is evaluated from the Fokker-Planck equation, expressed as an infinite hierarchy of recurrence equations for Fourier components of the relaxation functions governing longitudinal relaxation of the magnetization. The exact solution of this hierarchy comprises a matrix continued fraction, allowing one to evaluate the ac nonlinear response and reversal time of the magnetization. For weak ac fields, the results agree with perturbation theory. It is shown that the dc bias field changes substantially the magnetization dynamics leading to new nonlinear effects. In particular, it is demonstrated that for a nonzero bias field as the magnitude of the ac field increases the reversal time first increases and having attained its maximum at some critical value of the ac field, decreases exponentially.     

Magnetization of small lead particles

The magnetization of an ensemble of isolated lead grains of sizes ranging from 4 to 1000 nm is measured. A sharp disappearance of the Meissner effect with a lowering of the grain size is observed for the smaller grains. This is a direct observation by magnetization measurement of the occurrence of a critical particle size for superconductivity, which is consistent with Anderson's criterion.     

Coexistence of ferromagnetism and singlet superconductivity via kinetic exchange

We propose a novel mechanism for the coexistence of metallic ferromagnetism and singlet superconductivity assuming that the magnetic instability is due to kinetic exchange. Within this scenario, the unpaired electrons which contribute to the magnetization have a positive feedback on the gain of the kinetic energy in the coexisting phase by undressing the effective mass of the carriers involved in the pairing. The evolution of the magnetization and pairing amplitude and the phase diagram are first analyzed for a generic kinetic exchange model and then are determined within a specific case with spin dependent bond-charge occupation.     

高压高温处理对YNi_2B_2C晶界效应的影响

在测量经压力处理的氩弧熔炼的YNi2 B2 C的金属间化合物超导体中场冷磁化率时 ,观察到升温磁化率曲线在临界温度附近有一个负的磁化率峰。通过研究高压高温处理对粉末样品和块状样品的场冷和零场冷却磁化率曲线的影响 ,认为场冷时反常负磁化率峰是由于样品中晶界的存在 ,从而导致晶粒间的弱连接所引起的 ,而不是由磁相变或超导和磁性共存现象所引起的。并认为有可能利用高压高温技术制备这类化合物和生长单晶。     

Universal scaling properties of extreme type-II superconductors in magnetic fields

Anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau superconductors of extreme type-II are considered in an approximation where magnetic field fluctuations are neglected. A formulation of the scaling properties is presented for the singular part of the free energy density in the presence of a magnetic field. From the existence of a magnetization, a diamagnetic susceptibility and superconductivity we determine the limiting behavior of the scaling function in the vicinity of the zero field transition temperature, where critical fluctuations dominate. Our predictions for the temperature and field dependence of magnetization, magnetic torque and melting line etc., uncover the universal critical properties and provide an extension of hitherto used mean-field treatments. The results are consistent with experimental data. Received: 24 April 1998 / Accepted: 5 May 1998     

Re-entry in ferromagnetic superconductors

The re-entry phenomenon in magnetic superconductors is studied using the generalized Ginzburg-Landau free energy introduced by Blount and Varma. The re-entry temperature T_c2 is simply that temperature at which the magnetization acts as a source of induction strong enough to destroy superconductivity. Above T_c2 ferromagnetism and superconductivity coexist. The structure is an Abrikosov vortex lattice, with ferromagnetic magnetization spreading widely around the vortex cores. Within our approximations, the phase transition at T_c2 is of second order.     

非晶Nb-Ni合金的电子结构及其磁性和超导电性

用紫外光电子能谱(UPS)研究了非晶Nb_100-xNi_x(x=65,59.8,56.4)合金的电子结构,得到Nb-Ni合金的费密能级位于态密度曲线极小附近。从电子结构说明了Nb-Ni合金中存在双居里点现象的原因。对非晶Nb-Ni合金的电子结构分析指出:能量接近的两个d带杂化结果致使在费密面附近形成新的杂化带,杂化程度与两元素的价差有关。电荷转移引起带峰移动。费密能级态密度中应包含两部分的贡献:有利于磁性的3d电子态和有利于超导的4d电子态。费密能级处这两部分的分 关键词：