Suchergebnisse

We study the spatial distribution of the density of states (DOS) at zero bias N(r) in the mixed state of single and multigap superconductors. We provide an analytic expression for N(r) based on deGennes' relationship between DOS and the order parameter that reproduces well scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) data in several superconducting materials. In the single gap superconductor β-Bi2Pd, we find that N(r) is governed by a length scale ξH=φ0/2πH, which decreases in rising fields. The vortex core size C, defined via the slope of the order parameter at the vortex center, C (dΔ/dr|r→0)-1, differs from ξH by a material dependent numerical factor. The new data on the tunneling conductance and vortex lattice of the 2H-NbSe1.8S0.2 show the in-plane isotropic vortices, suggesting that substitutional scattering removes the in-plane anisotropy found in the two-gap superconductor 2H-NbSe2. We fit the tunneling conductance of 2H-NbSe1.8S0.2 to a two gap model and calculate the vortex core size C for each band. We find that C is field independent and has the same value for both bands. We also analyze the two-band superconductor 2H-NbS2 and find the same result. We conclude that, independently of the magnetic field induced variation of the order parameter values in both bands, the spatial variation of the order parameter close to the vortex core is the same for all bands ; The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT2014-56143-R, MDM-2014-0377, and MDM2015-0538, Network of Excellence in Molecular Nanoscience MAT2014-52919-REDC), by the Comunidad de Madrid through program Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT- 2850), the Generalidad Valenciana through program Prometeo, and by EU (Cost MP-1201 and COST CA-15128). E.H. acknowledges support of COLCIENCIAS Programa Doctorados en el Exterior Convocatoria 568-2012 and S.M. of MECD: FPU14/04407. M.G. acknowledges the European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Actions under the project SPIN2D (H2020/2014-659378). We acknowledge SEGAINVEX workshop of UAM and Banco Santander. The work of I.G. receives support from Axa Research Fund, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG 618321 and the European Research Council (Grant No. 679080). Work of V.K. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. The Ames Laboratory is operated for the U.S. DOE by Iowa State University under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358

We study the magnetic-field dependence of the conductance in planar ferromagnet-superconductor nanocontacts created with focused-electron/ion-beam techniques. From the fits of the differential conductance curves in high magnetic fields, we obtain the magnetic field dependences of the superconducting gap and the broadening parameter. Orbital depairing is found to be linear with magnetic field. We evaluate the magnetic field dependence of the quasiparticle density of states, and we compare it with the value obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science (through projects MAT2008-06567-C02, including FEDER funding) and the Arag´on Regional Government (project E26). S. Sangiao acknowledges financial support from Spanish MEC

We describe a three axis vector magnet system for cryogenic scanning probe microscopy measurements. We discuss the magnet support system and the power supply, consisting of a compact three way 100 A current source. We obtain tilted magnetic fields in all directions with maximum value of 5T along z-axis and of 1.2T for XY-plane magnetic fields. We describe a scanning tunneling microscopy-spectroscopy (STM-STS) set-up, operating in a dilution refrigerator, which includes a new high voltage ultralow noise piezodrive electronics and discuss the noise level due to vibrations. STM images and STS maps show atomic resolution and the tilted vortex lattice at 150 mK in the superconductor β-Bi2Pd. We observe a strongly elongated hexagonal lattice, which corresponds to the projection of the tilted hexagonal vortex lattice on the surface. We also discuss Magnetic Force Microscopy images in a variable temperature insert ; This work was supported by Convocatoria Doctorados en el Exterior 568-2012 COLCIENCIAS, the Spanish MINECO (FIS2011-23488, MAT2011-27470-C02-02, CSD2009-00013), by the Comunidad de Madrid through program Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT-2850) and by Marie-Curie actions under the project FP7-PEOPLE-2013- CIG-618321. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 604391 Graphene Flagship. We also acknowledge Banco Santander, COST MP1201. J.A. and C.M. acknowledge the FPI (BES- 2012-058600) and Juan de la Cierva (JCI-2011-08815) programs, respectively

We present measurements of the superconducting and charge-density-wave (CDW) critical temperatures (Tc and TCDW) as a function of pressure in the transition metal dichalchogenides 2H-TaSe2 and 2H-TaS2. Resistance and susceptibility measurements show that Tc increases from temperatures below 1 K up to 8.5 K at 9.5 GPa in 2H-TaS2 and 8.2 K at 23 GPa in 2H-TaSe2. We observe a kink in the pressure dependence of TCDW at about 4 GPa that we attribute to the lock-in transition from incommensurate CDW to commensurate CDW. Above this pressure, the commensurate TCDW slowly decreases, coexisting with superconductivity within our full pressure range ; D.C.F. gratefully acknowledges support from the Brazilian agencies CAPES and CNPq. This work was partially supported by the French National Research Agency through the project Subrissyme ANR-12-JS04-0003- 01 and by the Spanish MINECO (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT- 2014-56143-R, MDM-2014-0377, and MDM-2015-0538), by the Comunidad de Madrid through program Nanofrontmag, and by the European Union (Graphene Flagship Contract No. CNECT-ICT-604391 and COST MP1201 action). The susceptibility versus temperature data at high pressures, where the strong increase in Tc was first noticed, were taken by the late V. G. Tissen of the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chernogolovka, Russia, during his sabbatical stay in Madrid, which was financed by MINECO

The layered rare-earth diantimonides RSb2 are anisotropic metals with generally low electronic densities whose properties can be modified by substituting the rare earth. LaSb2 is a nonmagnetic metal with a low residual resistivity presenting a low-temperature magnetoresistance that does not saturate with the magnetic field. It has been proposed that the latter can be associated to a charge density wave (CDW), but no CDW has yet been found. Here we find a kink in the resistivity above room temperature in LaSb2 (at 355 K) and show that the kink becomes much more pronounced with substitution of La by Ce along the La1−xCexSb2 series. We find signatures of a CDW in x-ray scattering, specific heat, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in particular for x ≈ 0.5. We observe a distortion of rare-earth–Sb bonds lying in-plane of the tetragonal crystal using x-ray scattering, an anomaly in the specific heat at the same temperature as the kink in resistivity and charge modulations in STM. We conclude that LaSb2 has a CDW which is stabilized in the La1−xCexSb2 series due to substitutional disorder ; This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT2011-27470-C02-02, and CSD-2009-00013), by the European Union (Graphene Flagship Contract No. CNECT-ICT-604391 and COST MP1201 action), and by the Comunidad de Madrid through programs Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT-2850) and MAD2D-CM (S2013/MIT-3007).We acknowledge MINECO and CSIC for financial support and for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities and would like to thank the SpLine BM25 staff for assistance in using the beamline