Abstract.Superconductivity is found in 50 % K-doped EuFe 2 As 2 sample below 33 K. Our results of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and 57 Fe and 151 Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy provide clear evidence that the ordering of the Fe moments observed at 190 K in undoped EuFe 2 As 2 is completely suppressed in our 50% K doped sample, thus there is no coexistence between the Fe magnetic order and the superconducting state. However, short range ordering of the Eu moments is coexisting with the superconducting state below 15 K. A bump in the susceptibility well below T c as well as a slight broadening of the Fe Mössbauer line below 15 K evidence an interplay between the Eu magnetism and the superconducting state.

We have synthesized polycrystalline samples of Eu(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2 (x = 0-1) and carried out systematic characterization using x-ray diffraction, ac and dc magnetic susceptibility, and electrical resistivity measurements. A clear signature of the coexistence of a superconducting transition (T(c) = 5.5 K) with spin density wave (SDW) ordering is observed in our underdoped sample with x = 0.15. The SDW transition disappears completely for the x = 0.3 sample and superconductivity arises below 20 K. The superconducting transition temperature Tc increases with increase in the K content and a maximum Tc = 33 K is reached for x = 0.5, beyond which it decreases again. The doping dependent Tx phase diagram is extracted from the magnetic and electrical transport data. It is found that magnetic ordering of Eu moments coexists with the superconductivity up to x = 0.6. The isothermal magnetization data taken at 2 K for the doped samples suggest the 2+ valence state of the Eu ions. We also present the temperature dependence of the lower critical field H(c1) of the superconducting polycrystalline samples. The values of H(c1)(0) obtained for x = 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 after taking the demagnetization factor into account are 202, 330, and 212 Oe, respectively. The London penetration depth λ(T) calculated from the lower critical field does not show exponential dependence at low temperature, as would be expected for a fully gapped clean s-wave superconductor. In contrast, it shows a T2 power law feature up to T = 0.3Tc, as observed in Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2 and BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As2.

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The magnetic and transport properties of PrIr(2)B(2) and PrIr(2)B(2)C have been investigated by dc and ac magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistance measurements. PrIr(2)B(2) forms in CaRh(2)B(2)-type orthorhombic crystal structure (space group Fddd). At low fields the dc magnetic susceptibility of PrIr(2)B(2) exhibits a sharp anomaly near 46 K which is followed by an abrupt increase below 10 K with a peak at 6 K, and split-up in ZFC and FC data below 46 K. In contrast, the specific heat exhibits only a broad Schottky type hump near 9 K which indicates that there is no long range magnetic order in this compound. The thermo-remanent magnetization is found to decay very slowly with a mean relaxation time τ = 3917 s. An ac magnetic susceptibility measurement also observes two sharp anomalies; the peak positions strongly depend on the frequency and shift towards high temperature with an increase in frequency, obeying the Vogel-Fulcher law as expected for a canonical spin-glass system. The two spin-glass transitions occur at freezing temperatures T(f1) = 36 K and T(f2) = 3.5 K with shifts in the freezing temperatures per decade of frequency δT(f1) = 0.044 and δT(f2) = 0.09. An analysis of the frequency dependence of the transition temperature with critical slowing down, τ(max)/τ(0) = [(T(f)-T(SG))/T(SG)](-zν), gives τ(0) = 10(-7) s and exponent zν = 8, and the Vogel-Fulcher law gives an activation energy of 84 K for T(f1) and 27.5 K for T(f2). While zν = 8 is typical for spin-glass system, the characteristic relaxation time τ(0) = 10(-7) s is very large and comparable to that of superspin-glass systems. An addition of C in PrIr(2)B(2) leads to PrIr(2)B(2)C which forms in LuNi(2)B(2)C-type tetragonal structure (space group I4/mmm) and remains paramagnetic down to 2 K. The specific heat data show a broad Schottky type anomaly, which could be fairly reproduced with CEF analysis which suggests that the ground state is a CEF-split singlet and the first excited state singlet is situated 15 K above the ground state. The Sommerfeld coefficient γ∼300 mJ mol(-1) K(-2) of PrIr(2)B(2)C is very high and reflects a heavy fermion behaviour in this compound. We believe that the heavy fermion state in PrIr(2)B(2)C has its origin in low lying crystal field excitations as has been observed in PrRh(2)B(2)C.

We have successfully deposited epitaxial thin films of the Heusler alloy Co2FeSi on (1 0 0) cut SrTiO3 single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction reveals the L21 cubic crystal structure for the films grown at 400 and 600 °C, with a better crystallographic quality at the higher growth temperature. The magnetic moment in saturation of the 600 °C grown film is 5.0 µB/fu at 5 K with the easy axis of magnetization in the (1 0 0) plane. Inplane hysteresis measurements suggest a soft magnetic state with a coercive field H C ≈ 250 Oe at 5 K for the 600 °C film which decreases on lowering the growth temperature. The normalized magnetization of thin films follows the well-known Bloch T 3/2 law due to spin wave excitation. Electrical resistivity measurements on the films with the L21 crystal structure show a pronounced metallic behaviour down to the lowest temperature of measurement (≈5 K), and enhanced metallicity in the 600 °C film as indicated by its lower residual resistivity (≈0.16 µΩ cm) and higher residual resistivity ratio (RRR ≈ 1280). These results suggest that films grown at the higher temperature may be better suited for the fabrication of magnetic tunnel junctions.