Larysa Shlyk

Synthesis and Characterization of Superconducting Ca1−xNaxFFeAs

A representative of the fluoride-containing iron pnictide high-temperature superconductors, namely CaFFeAs, was doped with sodium up to the composition Ca0.86Na0.14FFeAs for the first time. Single crystals with an edge length in the range of 0.1 – 2.0 mm were obtained via solid-state and flux syntheses, respectively. The composition of the crystals was verified by means of single crystal X-ray diffractometry and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Measurements of the electrical resistivity, as well as the magnetization on a crystal of Ca0.89Na0.11FFeAs both show a transition to the superconducting state on cooling to 34.5 K. Investigations of the upper critical fields reveal an anisotropy ratio of about five. The lattice parameters and molar volumes increase with rising sodium content. This effect is clearly observable for the c-axis and the volume, whereas the increase of the a-axis is rather minor.

Superconductivity at Tc = 36.5 K in Na-Substituted SrFe2As2 Single Crystals

We report superconductivity, which is achieved in Sr1-xNaxFe2As2 at Tc = 36.5 K for x = 0.47. Single crystals of Na-substituted SrFe2As2 up to 2 × 2 mm2 were grown from NaF flux. The superconducting transition temperature with a narrow width less than 2 K, confirmed by both magnetic and resistivity measurements, indicates the high quality of our samples. The upper critical fields (0) = 87 T and (0) = 217.5 T are extremely high. The anisotropy ratio γ ~ 2.5 is close to that of other hole-or electron-doped 122 phases but lower than γ ~ 4.3 – 5 of phases from the 1111 series and much lower than γ ~ 7 – 10 of superconducting cuprates. Magnetic relaxation measurements, which are consistent with the collective pinning model, reveal that the flux-creep rate in Na substituted 122 SrFe2As2 is smaller than in 1111 type iron pnictides.

Coexistence of ferromagnetism and spin glass freezing in the site-disordered kagome ferrite SrSn2Fe4O11

Single-crystal x-ray diffraction refinements indicate SrSn2Fe4O11 crystallizes in the hexagonal R-type ferrite structure with non-centrosymmetric space group P63mc and lattice parameters a = 5.9541(2) A, c = 13.5761(5) A, Z = 2 (R(F) = 0.034). Octahedrally coordinated sites are randomly occupied by Sn and Fe; whereas tetrahedrally coordinated sites are exclusively occupied by Fe, whose displacement from ideal trigonal-bipyramidal coordination causes the loss of inversion symmetry. DC magnetization data indicate SrSn2Fe4O11 single crystals undergo ferro- or ferri-magnetic order below a transition temperature TC = 630 K with very low coercive fields Hc⊥ = 0.27 Oe and Hc// = 1.5 Oe at 300 K, for applied fields perpendicular and parallel to the c-axis, respectively. The value for TC is exceptionally high, and the coercive fields exceptionally low, among the known R-type ferrites. Enhanced coercivity and thermomagnetic hysteresis suggest the onset of short-range, spin glass order occurs below Tf = 35 K. Optica...

Crystal Structure and Magnetic Properties of the Novel Hollandite Ba1.3Co1.3Ti6.7O16

Single crystals of the new barium hollandite Ba1.3Co1.3Ti6.7O16 were obtained from a BaCl2 flux (I2/m, Z = 1, a = 9.9470(4), b = 2.9714(2), c = 10.2260(5) Å , β = 90.906(2)◦). In the crystal structure piles of Ba atoms are situated within a framework of edge- and vertex-sharing octahedra (Co,Ti)O6. The composition was deduced from microprobe analyses, structure refinements and charge balance arguments in agreement with the observed magnetic properties. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility χ(T) of Ba1.3Co1.3Ti6.7O16 single crystals reveals paramagnetism down to 2 K. The value of the Co magnetic moment deduced from the Curie-Weiss law agrees well with the theoretical value of the high-spin state spin-only moment of μeff = 3.87 μB for Co2+ (S = 3/2) Graphical Abstract Crystal Structure and Magnetic Properties of the Novel Hollandite Ba1.3Co1.3Ti6.7O16