Pressure effects on the structural and superconducting transitions in La3Co4Sn13

Abstract

La3Co4Sn13 is a superconducting material with transition temperature at Tc = 2.70 K, which presents a superlattice structural transition at T * ≃ 150 K, a common feature for this class of compounds. However, for this material, it is not clear that at T * the lattice distortions arise from a charge density wave (CDW) or from a distinct microscopic origin. Interestingly, it has been suggested in isostructural non-magnetic intermetallic compounds that T * can be suppressed to zero temperature, by combining chemical and external pressure, and a quantum critical point is argued to be observed near these critical doping/pressure. Our study shows that application of pressure on single-crystalline La3Co4Sn13 enhances Tc and decreases T * . We observe thermal hysteresis loops for cooling/heating cycles around T * for P 0.6 GPa, in electrical resistivity measurements, which are not seen in x-ray diffraction data. The hysteresis in electrical measurements may be due to the pinning of the CDW phase to impurities/defects, while the superlattice structural transition maintains its ambient pressure second-order transition nature under pressure. From our experiments we estimate that T * vanishes at around 5.5 GPa, though no quantum critical behavior is observed up to 2.53 GPa.

Unveiling charge density wave quantum phase transitions by x-ray diffraction

“…In the x-ray diffraction measurements, the CDW/superlattice modulation gives rise to satellites peaks below T CDW , in which intensities increase as the temperature decreases. For (Sr 1−x Ca x ) 3 (Ir,Rh) 4 Sn 13 and other related compounds, it is well established that the CDW transition doubles the cubic lattice parameter with respect to the higher temperature phase, with a commensurate propagation vector type q CDW = (0.5, 0.5, 0) [27][28][29]. By analyzing the positions of the superlattice satellite peaks of our PXRD data for Lu(Pt 1−x Pd x ) 2 In (see Fig.…”

Composition dependent polymorphism and superconductivity in Y3+x{Rh,Ir}4Ge13−x

“…60 And again, electrical resistivity of Y 3 Rh 4 Ge 13 is reminiscent of these reported for such typical CDW systems as e.g. NbSe 3 , 61 R 5 Ir 4 Si 10 (R = Ho, Er, Tm, Lu), 62,63 RPt 2 Si 2 (R = Y, La, Nd, Lu) 53 as well as the Remeika Sr 3 Ir 4 Sn 13 , 13 La 3 Co 4 Sn 13 64 and Th 3 Ir 4 Ge 13 21 phases.…”

Robust narrow-gap semiconducting behavior in square-net La$_{3}$Cd$_{2}$As$_{6}$

“…Upon cooling, a sudden increase in the resistivity is observed at T CDW = 279 K for La3Cd2As6 and at T CDW = 136 K for Ce 3 Cd 2 As 6 . Below T CDW , the observed semiconducting behavior indicates the opening of an energy gap due to the CDW phase transition, similar to Sr 3 Ir 4 Sn 13 , Ca 3 Ir 4 Sn 13 36 , Ce 3 Co 4 Sn 13 and La 3 Co 4 Sn 13 [37][38][39][40] . Notably, the resistivity of La 3 Cd 2 As 6 increases up to 10 10 Ω cm at 12 K, as presented in the inset of Fig.…”

“…Therefore, given the structural degree of freedom of As ions in the monoclinic structure, we attribute these transitions to a CDW phase caused by a further distortion in the arsenic square net. Figure 4 36 and La 3 Co 4 Sn 13 40 . Moreover, chemical pressure may also be an effective tuning parameter, and hence single crystals with smaller lanthanide el-ements, such as Pr or Nd, are desirable.…”