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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Interface control by homoepitaxial growth in pulsed laser deposited iron chalcogenide thin films
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Molatta, Sebastian; Haindl, Silvia; Trommler, Sascha; Schulze, Michael; Wurmehl, Sabine; Hühne, Ruben
    Thin film growth of iron chalcogenides by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is still a delicate issue in terms of simultaneous control of stoichiometry, texture, substrate/film interface properties, and superconducting properties. The high volatility of the constituents sharply limits optimal deposition temperatures to a narrow window and mainly challenges reproducibility for vacuum based methods. In this work we demonstrate the beneficial introduction of a semiconducting FeSe1−xTex seed layer for subsequent homoepitaxial growth of superconducting FeSe1−xTex thin film on MgO substrates. MgO is one of the most favorable substrates used in superconducting thin film applications, but the controlled growth of iron chalcogenide thin films on MgO has not yet been optimized and is the least understood. The large mismatch between the lattice constants of MgO and FeSe1−xTex of about 11% results in thin films with a mixed texture, that prevents further accurate investigations of a correlation between structural and electrical properties of FeSe1−xTex. Here we present an effective way to significantly improve epitaxial growth of superconducting FeSe1−xTex thin films with reproducible high critical temperatures (≥17 K) at reduced deposition temperatures (200 °C–320 °C) on MgO using PLD. This offers a broad scope of various applications.
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    Intrinsic and extrinsic pinning in NdFeAs(O,F): Vortex trapping and lock-in by the layered structure
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Tarantini, C.; Iida, K.; Hänisch, J.; Kurth, F.; Jaroszynski, J.; Sumiya, N.; Chihara, M.; Hatano, T.; Ikuta, H.; Schmidt, S.; Seidel, P.; Holzapfel, B.; Larbalestier, D.C.
    Fe-based superconductors (FBS) present a large variety of compounds whose properties are affected to different extents by their crystal structures. Amongst them, the REFeAs(O,F) (RE1111, RE being a rare-earth element) is the family with the highest critical temperature Tc but also with a large anisotropy and Josephson vortices as demonstrated in the flux-flow regime in Sm1111 (Tc ∼ 55 K). Here we focus on the pinning properties of the lower-Tc Nd1111 in the flux-creep regime. We demonstrate that for H//c critical current density Jc at high temperatures is dominated by point-defect pinning centres, whereas at low temperatures surface pinning by planar defects parallel to the c-axis and vortex shearing prevail. When the field approaches the ab-planes, two different regimes are observed at low temperatures as a consequence of the transition between 3D Abrikosov and 2D Josephson vortices: one is determined by the formation of a vortex-staircase structure and one by lock-in of vortices parallel to the layers. This is the first study on FBS showing this behaviour in the full temperature, field, and angular range and demonstrating that, despite the lower Tc and anisotropy of Nd1111 with respect to Sm1111, this compound is substantially affected by intrinsic pinning generating a strong ab-peak in Jc.
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    Large pinning forces and matching effects in YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films with Ba2Y(Nb/Ta)O6 nano-precipitates
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Opherden, Lars; Sieger, Max; Pahlke, Patrick; Hühne, Ruben; Schultz, Ludwig; Meledin, Alexander; Van Tendeloo, Gustaaf; Nast, Rainer; Holzapfel, Bernhard; Bianchetti, Marco; MacManus-Driscoll, Judith L.; Hänisch, Jens
    The addition of mixed double perovskite Ba2Y(Nb/Ta)O6 (BYNTO) to YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) thin films leads to a large improvement of the in-field current carrying capability. For low deposition rates, BYNTO grows as well-oriented, densely distributed nanocolumns. We achieved a pinning force density of 25 GN/m3 at 77 K at a matching field of 2.3 T, which is among the highest values reported for YBCO. The anisotropy of the critical current density shows a complex behavior whereby additional maxima are developed at field dependent angles. This is caused by a matching effect of the magnetic fields c-axis component. The exponent N of the current-voltage characteristics (inversely proportional to the creep rate S) allows the depinning mechanism to be determined. It changes from a double-kink excitation below the matching field to pinning-potential-determined creep above it.
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    Universal electronic structure of polar oxide hetero-interfaces
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Treske, Uwe; Heming, Nadine; Knupfer, Martin; Büchner, Bernd; Di Gennaro, Emiliano; Khare, Amit; Di Uccio, Umberto Scotti; Granozio, Fabio Miletto; Krause, Stefan; Koitzsch, Andreas
    The electronic properties of NdGaO3/SrTiO3, LaGaO3/SrTiO3, and LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, all showing an insulator-to-metal transition as a function of the overlayer-thickness, are addressed in a comparative study based on x-ray absorption, x-ray photoemission and resonant photoemission spectroscopy. The nature of the charge carriers, their concentration and spatial distribution as well as the interface band alignments and the overall interface band diagrams are studied and quantitatively evaluated. The behavior of the three analyzed heterostructures is found to be remarkably similar. The valence band edge of all the three overlayers aligns to that of bulk SrTiO3. The near-interface SrTiO3 layer is affected, at increasing overlayer thickness, by the building-up of a confining potential. This potential bends both the valence and the conduction band downwards. The latter one crossing the Fermi energy in the proximity of the interface and determines the formation of an interfacial band offset growing as a function of thickness. Quite remarkably, but in agreement with previous reports for LaAlO3/SrTiO3, no electric field is detected inside any of the polar overlayers. The essential phenomenology emerging from our findings is discussed on the base of different alternative scenarios regarding the origin of interface carriers and their interaction with an intense photon beam.
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    Selective mass enhancement close to the quantum critical point in BaFe2(As1−x P x )2
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Grinenko, V.; Iida, K.; Kurth, F.; Efremov, D.V.; Drechsler, S.-L.; Cherniavskii, I.; Morozov, I.; Hänisch, J.; Förster, T.; Tarantini, C.; Jaroszynski, J.; Maiorov, B.; Jaime, M.; Yamamoto, A.; Nakamura, I.; Fujimoto, R.; Hatano, T.; Ikuta, H.; Hühne, R.
    A quantum critical point (QCP) is currently being conjectured for the BaFe2(As1−x P x )2 system at the critical value x c  ≈ 0.3. In the proximity of a QCP, all thermodynamic and transport properties are expected to scale with a single characteristic energy, given by the quantum fluctuations. Such a universal behavior has not, however, been found in the superconducting upper critical field Hc2. Here we report Hc2 data for epitaxial thin films extracted from the electrical resistance measured in very high magnetic fields up to 67 Tesla. Using a multi-band analysis we find that Hc2 is sensitive to the QCP, implying a significant charge carrier effective mass enhancement at the doping-induced QCP that is essentially band-dependent. Our results point to two qualitatively different groups of electrons in BaFe2(As1−x P x )2. The first one (possibly associated to hot spots or whole Fermi sheets) has a strong mass enhancement at the QCP, and the second one is insensitive to the QCP. The observed duality could also be present in many other quantum critical systems.