Suppression of the Critical Temperature of Superconducting NdFeAs(OF) Single Crystals by Kondo-Like Defect Sites Induced by α-Particle Irradiation

C. Tarantini; M. Putti; A. Gurevich; Y. Shen; R. K. Singh; J. M. Rowell; N. Newman; D. C. Larbalestier; Peng Cheng; Ying Jia; Hai-Hu Wen

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.087002

Suppression of the Critical Temperature of Superconducting NdFeAs(OF) Single Crystals by Kondo-Like Defect Sites Induced by α-Particle Irradiation

C. Tarantini, M. Putti, A. Gurevich, Y. Shen, R. K. Singh, J. M. Rowell, N. Newman, D. C. Larbalestier, Peng Cheng, Ying Jia, Hai-Hu Wen

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.087002 · Physical Review Letters

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Abstract

We report the effect of α-particle irradiation on the reduction of the critical temperature Tc of a NdFeAs(OF) single crystal. Our data indicate that irradiation defects cause both nonmagnetic and magnetic scattering, resulting in the Kondo-like excess resistance Δρ(T)∝lnT over 2 decades in temperatures above Tc. The critical density of magnetic irradiation defects which suppresses Tc is found to be much higher than those for cuprates and multiband BCS superconductors. We suggest that such anomalously weak pair breaking by irradiation defects indicates that magnetic scattering in pnictides is coupled with pairing interactions mediated by spin fluctuations.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
NdFeAsO0.7F0.3 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	46.4	Pressure not reported	unknown
LaFeAs(OF) Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
YBa2Cu3O7-x Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
MgB2 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
V3Si Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown