Vortex Phase Dynamics in Yttrium Superhydride YH6 at Megabar Pressures.

A comprehensive study of vortex phases and vortex dynamics is presented for a recently discovered high-temperature superconductor YH6 with Tc(onset) of 215 K under a pressure of 200 GPa. The thermal activation energy (U0) is derived within the framework of the thermally activated flux flow (TAFF) theory. The activation energy yields a power law dependence U0 ∝ Hα on magnetic field with a possible crossover at a field around 8-10 T. Furthermore, we have depicted the vortex phase transition from the vortex-glass to vortex-liquid state according to the vortex-glass theory. Finally, vortex phase diagram is constructed for the first time for superhydrides. Very high estimated values of flux flow barriers U0(H) = (1.5-7) × 104 K together with high crossover fields make YH6 a rather outstanding superconductor as compared to most cuprates and iron-based systems. The Ginzburg number for YH6 Gi = (3-7) × 10-3 indicates that thermal fluctuations are not so strong and cannot broaden superconducting transitions in weak magnetic fields.

Phase Formation of Iron-Based Superconductors during Mechanical Alloying.

We successfully synthesized bulk Ba0.6Na0.4Fe2As2 and Sr0.5Na0.5Fe2As2 compounds by high-energy mechanical alloying (MA) technique. The MA process results in homogeneous amorphous phases of BaFe2As2 and SrFe2As2. It was found that the optimum time for high-energy milling in all cases is about 1.5-2 h, and the maximum amount of amorphous phase could be obtained when energy of 50-100 MJ/kg was absorbed by the powder. After a short-term heat treatment, we obtained nearly optimum sodium-doped Ba1-xNaxFe2As2 and Sr1-xNaxFe2As2 superconducting bulk samples. Therefore, MA is a potential scalable method to produce bulk superconducting material for industrial needs.

Synthesis and HRTEM Investigation of EuRbFe4As4 Superconductor.

In the stoichiometric iron-based superconductor EuRbFe4As4, superconductivity coexists with a long-range magnetic ordering in Eu layers. Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), we observed an atomic structure of as-grown EuRbFe4As4 crystals. HRTEM shows that crystals have two-dimensional intrinsic nanoinclusions established to be the RbFe2As2 (122) phase with a volume fraction of ~5.6%. In contrast with the CaKFe4As4 compound, similar inclusions are not superconducting down to 2 K, and no second magnetization peak was observed in the magnetization measurements at low temperature with B ‖ ab. We show that the non-superconducting 122 phase nanoinclusions could act as 2D pinning centers.

Electronic Structures and Surface Reconstructions in Magnetic Superconductor RbEuFe4As4.

In pnictide RbEuFe4As4, superconductivity sets in at 36 K and coexists, below 15-19 K, with the long-range magnetic ordering of Eu 4f spins. Here we report scanning tunneling experiments performed on cold-cleaved single crystals of the compound. The data revealed the coexistence of large Rb-terminated and small Eu-terminated terraces, both manifesting 1 × 2 and 2×2 reconstructions. On 2×2 surfaces, a hidden electronic order with a period ∼5 nm was discovered. A superconducting gap of ∼7 meV was seen to be strongly filled with quasiparticle states. The tunneling spectra compared with density functional theory calculations confirmed that flat electronic bands due to Eu 4f orbitals are situated ∼1.8 eV below the Fermi level and thus do not contribute directly to Cooper pair formation.