Inelastic neutron scattering study of a nonmagnetic collapsed tetragonal phase in nonsuperconducting CaFe2As2: evidence of the impact of spin fluctuations on superconductivity in the iron-arsenide compounds.

The relationship between antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and superconductivity has become a central topic of research in studies of superconductivity in the iron pnictides. We present unambiguous evidence of the absence of magnetic fluctuations in the nonsuperconducting collapsed tetragonal phase of CaFe2As2 via inelastic neutron scattering time-of-flight data, which is consistent with the view that spin fluctuations are a necessary ingredient for unconventional superconductivity in the iron pnictides. We demonstrate that the collapsed tetragonal phase of CaFe2As2 is nonmagnetic, and discuss this result in light of recent reports of high-temperature superconductivity in the collapsed tetragonal phase of closely related compounds.

Unusual phonon softening in delta-phase plutonium.

The phonon density of states and adiabatic sound velocities were measured on fcc-stabilized 242Pu0.95Al0.05. The phonon frequencies and sound velocities decrease considerably (soften) with increasing temperature despite negligible thermal expansion. The frequency softening of the transverse branch along the [111] direction is anomalously large ( approximately 30%) and is very sensitive to alloy composition. The large magnitude of the phonon softening is not observed in any other fcc metals and may arise from an unusual temperature dependence of the electronic structure in this narrow 5f-band metal.

Experimental electronic heat capacities of alpha- and delta-plutonium: heavy-fermion physics in an element.

We have measured the heat capacities of delta-Pu0.95Al0.05 and alpha-Pu over the temperature range 2-303 K. The availability of data below 10 K plus an estimate of the phonon contribution to the heat capacity based on recent neutron-scattering experiments on the same sample enable us to make a reliable deduc-tion of the electronic contribution to the heat capacity of delta-Pu0.95Al0.05; we find gamma=64+/-3 mJ K(-2) mol(-1) as T-->0. This is larger than that of any element and large enough for delta-Pu0.95Al0.05 to be classed as a heavy-fermion system. By contrast, gamma=17+/-1 mJ K(-2) mol(-1) in alpha-Pu. Two distinct anomalies are seen in the electronic contribution to the heat capacity of delta-Pu0.95Al0.05, one or both of which may be associated with the formation of the alpha(')-martensitic phase. We suggest that the large gamma value of delta-Pu0.95Al0.05 may be caused by proximity to a quantum-critical point.