In a superconductor, the ratio of the carrier density, n, to their effective mass, m * , is a fundamental property directly reflecting the length scale of the superfluid flow, the London penetration depth, λL. In two dimensional systems, this ratio n/m * (∼ 1/λ 2 L ) determines the effective Fermi temperature, TF . We report a sharp peak in the x-dependence of λL at zero temperature in clean samples of BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 at the optimum composition x = 0.30, where the superconducting transition temperature Tc reaches a maximum of 30 K. This structure may arise from quantum fluctuations associated with a quantum critical point (QCP). The ratio of Tc/TF at x = 0.30 is enhanced, implying a possible crossover towards the Bose-Einstein condensate limit driven by quantum criticality.In two families of high temperature superconductors, cuprates and iron-pnictides, superconductivity emerges in close proximity to an antiferromagnetically ordered state, and the critical temperature T c has a dome shaped dependence on doping or pressure [1][2][3]. What happens inside this superconducting dome is still a matter of debate [3][4][5]. In particular, elucidating whether a quantum critical point (QCP) is hidden inside it (Figs. 1A and B) may be key to understanding high-T c superconductivity [4,5]. A QCP marks the position of a quantum phase transition (QPT), a zero temperature phase transition driven by quantum fluctuations [7].The London penetration depth λ L is a property that may be measured at low temperature in the superconducting state to probe the electronic structure of the material, and look for signatures of a QCP. The absolute value of λ L in the zero-temperature limit immediately gives the superfluid density λ −2which is a direct probe of the superconducting state; here m * i and n i are the effective mass and concentration of the superconducting carriers in band i, respectively [8]. Measurements on high-quality crystals are necessary because impurities and inhomogeneity may otherwise wipe out the signatures of the QPT. Another advantage of this approach is that it does not require the application of a strong magnetic field, which may induce a different QCP or shift the zero-field QCP [9].BaFe 2 (As 1−x P x ) 2 is a particularly suitable system for penetration depth measurements as, in contrast to most other Fe-based superconductors, very clean [10] and homogeneous crystals of the whole composition series can be grown [11]. In this system, the isovalent substitution of P for As in the parent compound BaFe 2 As 2 offers an elegant way to suppress magnetism and induce superconductivity [11]. Non-Fermi liquid properties are apparent in the normal state above the superconducting dome ( Fig. 2A) [11,12] and de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations [10] have been observed over a wide x range including the superconducting compositions, giving detailed information on the electronic structure. Because P and As are isoelectric, the system remains compensated for all values of x (i.e., volumes of the electron and hole Fermi surfaces...

Despite their importance for biological activity, slower molecular motions beyond the nanosecond range remain poorly understood. We have assembled an unprecedented set of experimental NMR data, comprising up to 27 residual dipolar couplings per amino acid, to define the nature and amplitude of backbone motion in protein G using the Gaussian axial fluctuation model in three dimensions. Slower motions occur in the loops, and in the ␤-sheet, and are absent in other regions of the molecule, including the ␣-helix. In the ␤-sheet an alternating pattern of dynamics along the peptide sequence is found to form a long-range network of slow motion in the form of a standing wave extending across the ␤-sheet, resulting in maximal conformational sampling at the interaction site. The alternating nodes along the sequence match the alternation of strongly hydrophobic side chains buried in the protein core. Confirmation of the motion is provided through extensive crossvalidation and by independent hydrogen-bond scalar coupling analysis that shows this motion to be correlated. These observations strongly suggest that dynamical information can be transmitted across hydrogen bonds and have important implications for understanding collective motions and long-range information transfer in proteins.protein dynamics ͉ slow motions ͉ correlated M olecular dynamics, manifest in backbone and side-chain mobilities, play a crucial role in protein stability and function (1-4). The accurate characterization and understanding of protein motions thus adds an additional dimension to the structural information derived from genomics projects (5, 6). Although local backbone fluctuations on the picosecond to nanosecond time scale have been the subject of detailed characterization using NMR (7, 8) and molecular dynamics simulations (2), slower motions, in the submicrosecond to second range, remain poorly understood. Relaxation dispersion has been used to successfully identify sites of conformational exchange between states experiencing different chemical shifts in peptides (9) and proteins (10), but specific geometric motional models are often difficult to extract from these data. Slow time scales are, however, of particular interest because functionally important biological processes, including enzyme catalysis (11), signal transduction (12), ligand binding, and allosteric regulation (13), as well as collective motions involving groups of atoms or whole amino acids (14), are expected to occur in this time range. Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) report on averages over longer time scales (up to the millisecond range) and therefore encode key information for understanding slower protein motions over a very broad time scale (15,16). Recent studies have exploited the orientational averaging properties of RDCs to characterize the amplitude and direction of motions of NH vectors (17)(18)(19) or to study local variations in position and dynamics of the amide proton (20,21). Despite this activity, key questions remain concerning the nature and amplitude of ...

No abstract

Functional assignment of uncharacterized proteins is a challenge in the era of large-scale genome sequencing. Here, we combine in extracto-NMR, proteomics, and transcriptomics with a newly developed (knock-out) metabolomics platform to determine a potential physiological role for a ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO)-like protein (RLP) from Rhodospirillum rubrum. Our studies unravelled an unexpected link in bacterial central carbon metabolism between S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent polyamine metabolism and isoprenoid biosynthesis and also provide an alternative approach to assign enzyme function at the organismic level.

Superconducting gap structure was probed in type-II Dirac semimetal PdTe2 by measuring the London penetration depth using tunnel diode resonator technique. At low temperatures, the data for two samples are well described by weak coupling exponential fit yielding λ(T = 0) = 230 nm as the only fit parameter at a fixed ∆(0)/Tc ≈ 1.76, and the calculated superfluid density is consistent with a fully gapped superconducting state characterized by a single gap scale. Electrical resistivity measurements for in-plane and inter-plane current directions find very low and nearly temperature-independent normal-state anisotropy. The temperature dependence of resistivity is typical for conventional phonon scattering in metals. We compare these experimental results with expectations from a detailed theoretical symmetry analysis and reduce the number of possible superconducting pairing states in PdTe2 to only three nodeless candidates: a regular, topologically trivial, s-wave pairing, and two distinct odd-parity triplet states that both can be topologically non-trivial depending on the microscopic interactions driving the superconducting instability.

No abstract

The interplay between superconductivity and charge-density wave (CDW) in 2H-NbSe2 is not fully understood despite decades of study. Artificially introduced disorder can tip the delicate balance between two competing long-range orders, and reveal the underlying interactions that give rise to them. Here we introduce disorder by electron irradiation and measure in-plane resistivity, Hall resistivity, X-ray scattering, and London penetration depth. With increasing disorder, the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, varies non-monotonically, whereas the CDW transition temperature, TCDW, monotonically decreases and becomes unresolvable above a critical irradiation dose where Tc drops sharply. Our results imply that the CDW order initially competes with superconductivity, but eventually assists it. We argue that at the transition where the long-range CDW order disappears, the cooperation with superconductivity is dramatically suppressed. X-ray scattering and Hall resistivity measurements reveal that the short-range CDW survives above the transition. Superconductivity persists to much higher dose levels, consistent with fully gapped superconductivity and moderate interband pairing.

We report the phase diagram of λ-(BETS)2GaCl4 from rf penetration depth measurements with a tunnel diode oscillator in a pulsed magnetic field. We examined four samples with 1100 field sweeps in a range of angles with the magnetic field parallel and perpendicular to the conducting planes. In the parallel direction, Hc2 appears to include a tricritical point at 1.6 K and 10 T with a phase line that increases to 11 T as the temperature is decreased to 500 mK. The second phase line forms a clearly defined high field low temperature region satisfying several of the conditions of the FuldeFerrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state. We show remarkably good fits of Hc2 to WHH in the reentrant α > 1, λso = 0 regime. We also note a sharp angle dependence of the phase diagram about the field parallel orientation that characterizes Pauli paramagnetic limiting and further supports the possibility of FFLO behavior. Unrelated to the FFLO study, at fields and temperatures below Hc2 and Tc, we find rich structure in the penetration depth data that we attribute to impurities at the surface altering the superconducting properties while maintaining the same crystallographic axes as Hc2.