Pressure-induced electronic phase separation of magnetism and superconductivity in CrAs.

ABSTRACT: The recent discovery of pressure (p) induced superconductivity in the binary helimagnet CrAs has raised questions on how superconductivity emerges from the magnetic state and on the mechanism of the superconducting pairing. In the present work the suppression of magnetism and the occurrence of superconductivity in CrAs were studied by means of muon spin rotation. The magnetism remains bulk up to p ≃ 3.5 kbar while its volume fraction gradually decreases with increasing pressure until it vanishes at p ≃ 7 kbar. At 3.5 kbar superconductivity abruptly appears with its maximum Tc ≃ 1.2 K which decreases upon increasing the pressure. In the intermediate pressure region (3.5 < or ~  p < or ~ 7 kbar) the superconducting and the magnetic volume fractions are spatially phase separated and compete f

SUBMITTER: Khasanov R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4561900 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature