We present Muon spectroscopy investigations on SmFeAsO 1−x F x showing coexistence of magnetic order and superconductivity only in a very narrow F-doping range. The sharp crossover between the two types of order is similar to that observed in LaFeAsO 1−x F x , suggesting a common behavior for the 1111 pnictides. The analysis of the muon asymmetry demonstrates that the coexistence must be nanoscopic, i.e., the two phases must be finely interspersed over a typical length scale of few nm. In this regime both the magnetic and the superconducting transition temperatures collapse to very low values. Our data suggest a competition between the two order parameters.

In this work we present a systematic experimental and theoretical study of the structural, transport and superconducting properties of Sm(Fe 1-x Ru x )As (O 0.85 F 0.15 ) polycrystalline samples as a function of Ru content (x) ranging from 0 to 1. The choice of Ru as isoelectronic substitution at Fe site of Fdoped compounds allows to better clarify the role of structural disorder in modifying the normal and superconducting properties of these newly discovered multiband superconductors. Two different regions are identified: the Fe-rich phase (x<0.5) where superconducting and normal state properties are strongly affected by disorder induced by Ru substitution; the Ru-rich phase (x>0.5) where the system is metallic and strongly compensated and the presence of Ru frustrates the magnetic moment on Fe ions. Here the lack of magnetic features and related spin fluctuations may be the cause for the suppression of superconductivity. 1.IntroductionThe recent discovery of high critical temperature superconductivity in iron based compounds 1 has attracted a great deal of attention as these compounds appear to be a glaring case of proximity between superconductivity and magnetisms. The parent compounds exhibit antiferromagnetic spindensity-wave (SDW) order that disappears upon doping, giving rise to superconductivity. It has been suggested by many authors that superconductivity in pnictides could be mediated by magnetic excitations which couple electron and hole pockets of the Fermi surface, favoring s-wave order parameters with opposite sign on different sheets of the Fermi surface (s ± coupling). 2The interplay between superconductivity and magnetisms can be investigated by varying magnetic and superconducting properties of the compounds through suitable substitutions. Moreover, scattering induced by substitutions is expected to affect superconductivity in very differently ways in the cases of conventional or unconventional coupling. 3 As a consequence, a thorough study of the behavior of T c vs structural disorder is crucial in order to probe different theoretical models. Similarly to cuprates, the pnictide compounds have a layered structure characterized by the stacking of insulating and FeAs-conducting layers with general formulas REFeAsO (RE being a rare earth)

In this paper we carry out a direct comparison between transport and superconducting properties-namely resistivity, magnetoresistivity, Hall effect, Seebeck effect, thermal conductivity, upper critical field-of two different families of Fe-based superconductors, which can be viewed in many respects as end members: SmFeAsO 1−x F x with the largest T c and the largest anisotropy and Fe 1+y Te 1−x Se x , with the largest H c2 , the lowest T c and the lowest anisotropy. In the case of the SmFeAsO 1−x F x series, we find that a single-band description allows us to extract an approximate estimation of band parameters such as carrier density and mobility from experimental data, although the behaviour of the Seebeck effect as a function of doping demonstrates that a multiband description would be more appropriate. On the contrary, experimental data for the Fe 1+y (Te 1−x , Se x ) series exhibit a strongly compensated behaviour, which can be described only within a multiband model.In the Fe 1+y (Te 1−x , Se x ) series, the role of the excess Fe, tuned by Se stoichiometry, is found to be twofold: on one hand it dopes electrons in the system and on the other hand it introduces localized magnetic moments, responsible for Kondo like scattering and likely pairbreaking of Cooper pairs. Hence, Fe excess also plays a crucial role in determining superconducting properties such as the T c and the upper critical field H c2 . The huge H c2 values of the Fe 1+y Te 1−x Se x samples are described by a dirty limit law, opposed to the clean limit behaviour of the SmFeAsO 1−x F x samples. Hence, magnetic scattering by excess Fe seems to drive the system in the dirty regime, but its detrimental pairbreaking role seems not to be as severe as predicted by theory. This issue has yet to be clarified, addressing the more fundamental issue of the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity.

The temperature dependence of the in-plane magnetic penetration depth, lambda(ab)(T), has been measured in a c-axis oriented polycrystalline CaC(6) bulk sample using a high-resolution mutual inductance technique. A clear exponential behavior of lambda(ab)(T) has been observed at low temperatures, strongly suggesting isotropic s-wave pairing. Data fit using the standard BCS theory yields lambda(ab)(0) = (720 +/- 80) A and delta(0) = (1.79 +/- 0.08) meV. The ratio 2delta(0)/k(B)T(c) = (3.6 +/- 0.2) gives indication for a weakly coupled superconductor.

We report on the recovery of the short-range static magnetic order and on the concomitant degradation of the superconducting state in optimally F-doped SmFe1−xRuxAsO0.85F0.15 for 0.1 ≤ x 0.5. The two reduced order parameters coexist within nanometer-size domains in the FeAs layers and finally disappear around a common critical threshold xc ∼ 0.6. Superconductivity and magnetism are shown to be closely related to two distinct well-defined local electronic environments of the FeAs layers. The two transition temperatures, controlled by the isoelectronic and diamagnetic Ru substitution, scale with the volume fraction of the corresponding environments. This fact indicates that superconductivity is assisted by magnetic fluctuations, which are frozen whenever a short-range static order appears, and totally vanish above the magnetic dilution threshold xc.The appearance of high-T c superconductivity (SC) close to the disruption of static magnetic (M) order is a general feature of the Fe-based superconductors either as a function of doping or external pressure. In the REFeAsO family (RE1111) it is found that SC and M strongly compete and hardly coexist simultaneously [1, 2], apart for RE=Sm and Ce [3,4] within a small doping range where both order parameters are depressed. Coexistence implies short range magnetic order, that is detected only by local probes such as muon-spin rotation (µSR) [4] or nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) [5], since it eludes long coherence probes such as powder diffraction [6]. The competition between the superconducting and magnetic ground-states must be reconciled with the prevailing models of pairing mediated by spin fluctuations [7]. These models are seemingly in contradiction with the evidence that the two mutually excluding orders coexist only when phase separation occurs.Here we show, by means of µSR and 75 As NQR, that magnetism is surprisingly still at play in optimally F-doped SmFe 1−x Ru x AsO 0.85 F 0.15 . The isoelectronic Fe:Ru substitution is found to deteriorate the superconducting state in optimally electron-doped SmFeAsO 0.85 -F 0.15 samples and simultaneously to recover static magnetism within the FeAs layers, for 0.1 ≤ x 0.5. This is accompanied by a local electronic rearrangement within the FeAs layers. When Ru doping approaches the critical threshold x c = 0.6, corresponding to percolation of a magnetic square lattice with nearest neighbor (n.n.) and next-nearest neighbor hopping, both magnetism and SC vanish.The investigated polycrystalline SmFe 1−x Ru x AsO 0.85 -F 0.15 samples are the same of Ref. 8. From 19 F nuclear magnetic resonance the relative fluorine content was found to be constant within ∆ 0.01 in the whole set of samples investigated. To investigate the bulk character of the superconducting state we carried out transverse field (TF)-µSR measurements, where a sample is fieldcooled (FC) in a magnetic field larger than the lower superconducting critical field H c1 , applied perpendicular to the initial muon-spin orientation (H ⊥ S µ ). A flux-line lattice (FLL) i...