The superconducting properties of two -pyrochlore oxides, CsOs 2 O 6 and RbOs 2 O 6 , are studied by thermodynamic and transport measurements using high-quality single crystals. It is shown that the character of superconductivity changes systematically from weak coupling for CsOs 2 O 6 to moderately strong coupling for RbOs 2 O 6 , and finally to extremely strong coupling with BCS-type superconductivity for KOs 2 O 6 , with increasing T c . Strong-coupling correction analyses of the superconducting properties reveal that a low-energy rattling mode of the alkali metal ions is responsible for the mechanism of the superconductivity in each compound. The large enhancement of T c from Cs to K is attributed to the increase in the electron-rattler coupling with decreasing characteristic energy of the rattling and with increasing anharmonicity. The existence of weak anisotropy in the superconducting gap or in the electron-rattler interactions is found for the Cs and Rb compounds.

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Rattling-induced superconductivity in the β-pyrochlore oxide KOs 2 O 6 is investigated under high pressure up to 5 GPa. Resistivity measurements in a high-quality single crystal reveal a gradual decrease in the superconducting transition temperature T c from 9.7 K at 1.0 GPa to 6.5 K at 3.5 GPa, followed by a sudden drop to 3.3 K at 3.6 GPa. Powder X-ray diffraction experiments show a structural transition from cubic to monoclinic or triclinic at a similar pressure. The sudden drop in T c is ascribed to this structural transition, by which an enhancement in T c due to a strong electron-rattler interaction present in the low-pressure cubic phase is abrogated as the rattling of the K ion is completely suppressed or weakened in the high-pressure phase of reduced symmetry. In addition, we find two anomalies in the temperature dependence of resistivity in the low-pressure phase, which may be due to subtle changes in rattling vibration.

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We report the results of the low-temperature specific heat measurements on the β-pyrochlore oxide superconductor RbOs 2 O 6 (T c = 6.3 K) in magnetic field under high pressure. We investigated the upper critical field H c2 at several pressures and found that the slope of H c2 at T c monotonically increases with increasing pressure in low-pressure superconducting phase SC1, indicating that the effective mass m * is enhanced by the pressure. Moreover, the jump of the specific heat at T c is also enhanced by the application of the pressure in SC1, suggesting that the pressure gives rise to the enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling and consequently enhances T c .