Superconductivity of metallic boron in MgB2

Boron in MgB2 forms stacks of honeycomb layers with magnesium as a space filler. Band structure calculations indicate that Mg is substantially ionized, and the bands at the Fermi level derive mainly from B orbitals. Strong bonding with an ionic component and considerable metallic density of states yield a sizable electron-phonon coupling. Together with high phonon frequencies, which we estimate via zone-center frozen phonon calculations to be between 300 and 700 cm(-1), this produces a high critical temperature, consistent with recent experiments. Thus MgB2 can be viewed as an analog of the long sought, but still hypothetical, superconducting metallic hydrogen.     

Superconductivity in crystals with covalent bonds

Novel types of ground states associated with properties of heavy fermion systems are derived for crystals with covalent bonds generated by short-range exchange forces between valence electrons of atoms localized at lattice sites. It is shown that the short-range exchange forces can give rise to a narrow energy band in which electrons can exhibit an enormous effective mass. The same exchange forces provide the microscopic mechanism for spin-singlet pairing of electrons into Cooper pairs which are responsible for superconductivity in these systems. This superconductivity exhibits several different anisotropic superconducting states. The effective mass, Fermi energy, specific heat, Pauli susceptibility, critical temperatures and critical magnetic field of heavy fermion systems are calculated and compared with experimental data.The authors thank Dr. . Jano for discussions.     

Substitution Effects on MgB2 Superconductivity

With the help of supercell method, the first-principle calculations were performed for the study of doping crystal Mg_1-xAl_xB₂ and Mg(B_1-yC_y)₂. Analyzing the variations of the charge distribution and the partial densities of states, we found that the compounds with doping Al to MgB₂ compound and/or replacing boron by carbon exhibit new covalent bond effects and unexpected electronic properties, related to superconductivity. The study of the density of states indicates that superconductivity decreases with the increase of Al fraction and carbon concentration. There exists a transition of superconductor to non-superconductor with the change of Al doping fraction. The substitution of boron by carbon results in the decrease of the transition temperature since the decrease of the electron concentration and the lattice constant. The theoretical predictions agree with experimental observations.     

Superconductivity in dense MgB2 wires

MgB2 becomes superconducting just below 40 K. Whereas porous polycrystalline samples of MgB2 can be synthesized from boron powders, in this Letter we demonstrate that dense wires of MgB2 can be prepared by exposing boron filaments to Mg vapor. The resulting wires have a diameter of 160 microm, are better than 80% dense, and manifest the full chi = -1/4pi shielding in the superconducting state. Temperature-dependent resistivity measurements indicate that MgB2 is a highly conducting metal in the normal state with rho(40 K) = 0.38 microOmega cm. By using this value, an electronic mean-free path, l approximately 600 A can be estimated, indicating that MgB2 wires are well within the clean limit. Tc, Hc2(T), and Jc data indicate that MgB2 manifests comparable or better superconducting properties in dense wire form than it manifests as a sintered pellet.     

压强对二硼化镁超导电性的影响

基于强耦合理论的 Mc Millan公式 ,研究了压强对 Mg B2 超导电性的影响 ,得到了与实验趋于一致的结果 ,进一步表明了 Mg B2 的超导机制应在 BCS理论框架下讨论。并同时探讨了压强对 Mg B2 超导电性影响的物理机制     

MgB_2带材的超导电性与制备温度的关系

报导了利用电泳技术在不锈钢基底上制备 Mg B2 超导带材。采用扫描电子显微镜、X射线衍射、电测量和磁测量技术 ,分别研究了后退火温度对带材表面形貌、晶体结构、超导转变温度和临界电流密度的影响。结果表明 ,随着后退火温度的升高 ,Mg B2 带材的结晶情况逐渐变好 ,超导转变温度升高、转变宽度变窄。 90 0℃下制备的带材的临界电流密度为 6× 10 5A/ cm2 (5 K,0 T)。     

Superconductivity in covalent semiconductors

This review covers recent advances in superconductivity of diamond, Si, SiC, group III–V and II–IV semiconductors, metal-intercalated graphite and fullerites. The results are critically analyzed and prospects are given for future research directions. In particular, it is argued that the highest transition temperatures of ∼9 K in diamond and 11.5 K in CaC₆ can further be enhanced and that no reliable evidence exists yet for superconductivity in III-V semiconductors.      

Superconductivity in ultrasmall metallic grains

We review recent experimental and theoretical work on superconductivity in ultrasmall metallic grains, i.e. grains sufficiently small that the conduction electron energy spectrum becomes discrete. The discrete excitation spectrum of an individual grain can be measured by the technique of single‐electron tunneling spectroscopy, and reveals parity effects indicative of pairing correlations in the grain. After introducing the discrete BCS model that has been used to model such grains, we review a phenomenological, grand‐canonical, variational BCS theory describing the paramagnetic breakdown of these pairing correlations with increasing magnetic field. We also review recent canonical theories that have been developed to describe how pairing correlations change during the crossover, with decreasing grain size, from the bulk limit to the limit of few electrons, and compare their results to those obtained using Richardson's exact solution of the discrete BCS model.     

Superconductivity as a synchronous spatial alternation of valence bonds

A new theoretical model for superconductivity is proposed which depends on a pairing in real space (valence bonds). Pair-pair correlations establish an ordered array of such pairs and a synchronous alternation among equivalent coherent spatial arrays of valence bonds is considered as the origin of superconductivity. Simple metals with two valence electrons (e.g., Be, Zn, etc.) are used to illustrate the ideas. The new high T_c materials (based on substitutions in La₂CuO₄) will be considered elsewhere.     

Non-resonant microwave absorption studies of superconducting MgB2 and MgB2 + MgO

Non-resonant microwave absorption (NRMA) studies of superconducting MgB₂ and a sample containing ∼10% by weight of MgO in MgB₂ are reported. The NRMA results indicate near absence of intergranular weak links in the pure MgB₂ sample. A linear temperature dependence of the lower critical field H _c1 is observed indicating a non-s wave superconductivity. However, the phase reversal of the NRMA signal which could suggest d wave symmetry is also not observed. In the MgB₂ + MgO sample, much larger low field dependent absorption is observed indicating the presence of intergranular weak links. The hysteretic behavior of NRMA is compared and contrasted in the two samples. In the pure MgB₂ sample, a large hysteresis is observed between the forward and the reverse scans of the magnetic field indicating strong pinning of flux lines. This hysteresis saturates a few degrees below T _c while in the MgB₂ + MgO sample, a much slower increase of hysteresis with decreasing temperature is observed, a signature of weaker pinning.     

Electronic structure of MgB2

Results of ab initio electronic structure calculations on the compound MgB₂ using the FPLAPW method employing GGA for the exchange-correlation energy are presented. Total energy minimization enables us to estimate the equilibrium volume, c/a ratio and the bulk modulus, all of which are in excellent agreement with experiment. We obtain the mass enhancement parameter by using our calculated D (E _F) and the experimental specific heat data. The T _c is found to be 24.7 K.     

Halogen bonds with N-heterocyclic carbenes as halogen acceptors: a partially covalent character

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are important ligands in organometallic catalytic reactions. This study focuses on the halogen bonds with NHCs as the electron donors. The results show that NHCs are better electron donors in halogen bonds. Our interest is how to make a halogen bond having a partially covalent property, which depends on the strength of halogen bonding. The covalent property of halogen bonding is related to the nature of the halogen donor. Iodine is favourable to form a halogen bond with covalent property than chlorine and bromine. The covalent property of halogen bond is greatly affected by substituents. Strong electron-donating groups in NHCs could reinforce the covalent attribute of bromine bonding, whereas strong electron-withdrawing groups in NHCs make iodine bonding lose the covalent nature. The covalent property of halogen bond is further heightened through the cooperative effect between the carbene–halogen bond and another interaction. This covalent property results in a much short binding distance and a prominent bond elongation. The covalent property of halogen bond has been analysed with the energy density, electron local function, and electron density shifts.     

Intermediate sp-hybridization for chemical bonds in nonplanar covalent molecules of carbon

General representations for symmetrical and asymmetrical intermediate sp-hybridization are provided, with which the development of electronic structure in C3v-symmetrical C2H6and the bonding configuration in C60have been analyzed as an example. The spherical structure of C60does not necessarily require the fourth hybrid, h4, to lie along the radial direction. Rather, h4runs at an angle of 3.83?from the radius, in the plane bisecting a pentagon, to achieve maximum overlap with adjacent h4-hybrids. By virtue of these representations, a number of properties of covalent molecules and solids can be conveniently calculated. This work might be particularly helpful for the study of C–C bonding in curved structures of carbon, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and buckled graphene.     

Two-band superconductivity in MgB2

The study of the anisotropic superconductor MgB2 using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy reveals two distinct energy gaps at Delta(1)=2.3 meV and Delta(2)=7.1 meV at 4.2 K. Different spectral weights of the partial superconducting density of states are a reflection of different tunneling directions in this multiband system. Temperature evolution of the tunneling spectra follows the BCS scenario [Phys. Rev. Lett. 3, 552 (1959)]] with both gaps vanishing at the bulk T(c). The data confirm the importance of Fermi-surface sheet dependent superconductivity in MgB2 proposed in the multigap model by Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 087005 (2001)]].     

Electronic state of MgB2 superconductor

Thanks to the high quality single crystals of MgB₂, we have measured various physical properties to extract important features of the electronic state in this superconductor. The electron density maps calculated from a precise X-ray diffraction analysis and the band dispersions determined by the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy demonstrate that the boron orbitals play a central role, just as predicted by the band theory. The strong coupling of the high frequency optical phonon with the boron bands is indicated in resistivity and Raman scattering spectra. Although the multi-band structure significantly affects various normal state properties, no clear multi-gap feature can be observed in the Raman scattering spectra below T_c.     

High-resolution photoemission study of MgB2

We have performed high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy on MgB2 and observed opening of a superconducting gap with a narrow coherent peak. We found that the superconducting gap is s like with the gap value ( Delta) of 4.5+/-0.3 meV at 15 K. The temperature dependence (15-40 K) of the gap value follows well the BCS form, suggesting that 2Delta/k(B)T(c) at T = 0 is about 3. No pseudogap behavior is observed in the normal state. The present results strongly suggest that MgB2 is categorized into a phonon-mediated BCS superconductor in the weak-coupling regime.