Intercalation effect on hyperfine parameters of Fe in FeSe superconductor with Tc = 42 K
57Fe-Mossbauer spectra of superconducting beta-FeSe, the Li/NH3 intercalate product and a subsequent sample of this intercalate treated with moist He gas have been measured in temperature range 4.7 - 290 K. A correlation is established between hyperfine parameters and critical temperature Tc in these phases. A strong increase of isomer shift upon intercalation is explained by a charge transfer from the Li/NH3 intercalate to the FeSe layers resulting in an increase of Tc up to 42 K. A significant decrease of the quadrupole splitting above 240 K has been attributed to diffusive motion of Li+ ions within the interlamellar space.
Superconductivity and magnetism in Rb0.8Fe1.6Se2under pressure
High-pressure magnetization, structural and 57Fe M\"ossbauer studies were performed on superconducting Rb0.8Fe1.6Se2.0 with Tc = 32.4 K. The superconducting transition temperature gradually decreases on increasing pressure up to 5.0 GPa followed by a marked step-like suppression of superconductivity near 6 GPa. No structural phase transition in the Fe vacancy-ordered superstructure is observed in synchrotron XRD studies up to 15.6 GPa, while the M\"ossbauer spectra above 5 GPa reveal the appearance of a new paramagnetic phase and significant changes in the magnetic and electronic properties of the dominant antiferromagnetic phase, coinciding with the disappearance of superconductivity. Thes…
Exotic magnetism in the alkali sesquioxidesRb4O6andCs4O6
Among the various alkali oxides the sesquioxides ${\text{Rb}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ and ${\text{Cs}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ are of special interest. Electronic-structure calculations using the local spin-density approximation predicted that ${\text{Rb}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ should be a half-metallic ferromagnet, which was later contradicted when an experimental investigation of the temperature-dependent magnetization of ${\text{Rb}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ showed a low-temperature magnetic transition and differences between zero-field-cooled and field-cooled measurements. Such behavior is known from spin glasses and frustrated systems. ${\text{Rb}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ and ${\text{Cs}}_{4}{\text{O}}_{6}$ c…
Phase separation in superconducting and antiferromagneticRb0.8Fe1.6Se2probed by Mössbauer spectroscopy
${}^{57}$Fe-M\"ossbauer studies of superconducting Rb${}_{0.8}$Fe${}_{1.6}$Se${}_{2.0}$ with ${T}_{C}$ $=$ 32.4 K were performed on single-crystalline and polycrystalline samples in the temperature range 4.2--295 K. They reveal the presence of 88% magnetic and 12% nonmagnetic Fe${}^{2+}$ species with the same polarization dependence of their hyperfine spectra. The magnetic species are attributed to the 16$i$ sites of the $\sqrt{5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1$ superstructure and the nonmagnetic Fe species to a nanosized phase observed in recent structural studies of superconducting K${}_{x}$Fe${}_{2\ensuremath{-}}$${}_{y}$Se${}_{2}$ systems ra…
Pressure effect on superconductivity in FeSe0.5Te0.5
Due to the simple layered structure, isostructural FeSe and FeSe0.5Te0.5 are clue compounds for understanding the principal mechanisms of superconductivity in the family of Fe-based superconductors. High-pressure magnetic, structural and Mossbauer studies have been performed on single-crystalline samples of superconducting FeSe0.5Te0.5 with Tc = 13.5 K. Susceptibility data have revealed a strong increase of Tc up to 19.5 K for pressures up to 1.3 GPa, followed by a plateau in the Tc(p) dependence up to 5.0 GPa. Further pressure increase leads to a disappearance of the superconducting state around 7.0 GPa. X-ray diffraction and Mossbauer studies explain this fact by a tetragonal-to-hexagonal…
Pressure effect on superconductivity in FeSe0.5Te0.5
Due to the simple layered structure, isostructural FeSe and FeSe0.5Te0.5 are clue compounds for understanding the principal mechanisms of superconductivity in the family of Fe-based superconductors. High-pressure magnetic, structural and M\"ossbauer studies have been performed on single-crystalline samples of superconducting FeSe0.5Te0.5 with Tc = 13.5 K. Susceptibility data have revealed a strong increase of Tc up to 19.5 K for pressures up to 1.3 GPa, followed by a plateau in the Tc(p) dependence up to 5.0 GPa. Further pressure increase leads to a disappearance of the superconducting state around 7.0 GPa. X-ray diffraction and M\"ossbauer studies explain this fact by a tetragonal-to-hexag…
Pressure-restored superconductivity in Cu-substituted FeSe
Copper doping of FeSe destroys its superconductivity at ambient pressure, even at low doping levels. Here we report the pressure-dependent transport and structural properties of Fe${}_{1.01\ensuremath{-}x}$Cu${}_{x}$Se with 3$%$ and 4$%$ Cu doping and find that the superconductivity is restored. Metallic resistivity behavior, absent in Cu-doped FeSe, is also restored. At the low pressure of 1.5 GPa, superconductivity is seen at 6 K for 4$%$ Cu doping, somewhat lower than the 8 K ${T}_{c}$ of undoped FeSe. ${T}_{c}$ reaches its maximum of 31.3 K at 7.8 GPa, lower than the maximum superconducting temperature in the undoped material under pressure (${T}_{c}$ max of 37 K) but still very high. X…
Effect of pressure on superconductivity in NaAlSi
The ternary superconductor NaAlSi, isostructural with LiFeAs, the ``111'' iron pnictide superconductor, is investigated under pressure. The structure remains stable up to 15 GPa. Resistivity and susceptibility measurements show an increase of ${T}_{c}$ up to 2 GPa, followed by a decrease until superconductivity disappears at 4.8 GPa. Band structure calculations show that pressure should have a negligible effect on the electronic structure and the Fermi surface and thus the disappearance of superconductivity under pressure must have a different origin. We compare the electronic structure of NaAlSi under pressure with that of nonsuperconducting isostructural NaAlGe.