ABSTRACT
We report the synthesis, crystal structure, and physical properties of a novel ternary compound, Th2Cu4As5. The material crystallizes in a tetragonal structure with lattice parameters a = 4.0639(3) Å and c = 24.8221(17) Å. Its structure can be described as an alternating stacking of fluorite-type Th2As2 layers with antifluorite-type double-layered Cu4As3 slabs. The measurement of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat reveals that Th2Cu4As5 undergoes bulk superconducting transition at 4.2 K. Additionally, all these physical quantities exhibit anomalies at 48 K, accompanied by a sign change in the Hall coefficient, suggesting a charge-density-wave-like (CDW) phase transition. Drawing from both experimental data and band calculations, we propose that the superconducting and CDW-like phase transitions are, respectively, associated with the Cu4As3 slabs and the As plane in the Th2As2 layers.
ABSTRACT
ThFeAsN1-x O x ([Formula: see text]) system with heavy electron doping has been studied by the measurements of x-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat. The non-doped compound exhibits superconductivity at [Formula: see text] K, which is possibly due to an internal uniaxial chemical pressure that is manifested by the extremely small value of As height with respect to the Fe plane. With the oxygen substitution, the T c value decreases rapidly to below 2 K for [Formula: see text], and surprisingly, superconductivity re-appears in the range of [Formula: see text] with a maximum [Formula: see text] of 17.5 K at x = 0.3. For the normal-state resistivity, while the samples in intermediate non-superconducting interval exhibit Fermi liquid behavior, those in other regions show a non-Fermi-liquid behavior. The specific heat jump for the superconducting sample of x = 0.4 is [Formula: see text], which is discussed in terms of anisotropic superconducting gap. The peculiar phase diagram in ThFeAsN1-x O x presents additional ingredients for understanding the superconducting mechanism in iron-based superconductors.
ABSTRACT
We report the first nitrogen-containing iron-pnictide superconductor ThFeAsN, which is synthesized by a solid-state reaction in an evacuated container. The compound crystallizes in a ZrCuSiAs-type structure with the space group P4/nmm and lattice parameters a = 4.0367(1) Å and c = 8.5262(2) Å at 300 K. The electrical resistivity and dc magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate superconductivity at 30 K for the nominally undoped ThFeAsN.
