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...

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We report a combined study of the specific heat and de Haas-van Alphen effect in the iron-pnictide superconductor BaFe2(As(1-x)P(x))2. Our data when combined with results for the magnetic penetration depth give compelling evidence for the existence of a quantum critical point close to x=0.30 which affects the majority of the Fermi surface by enhancing the quasiparticle mass. The results show that the sharp peak in the inverse superfluid density seen in this system results from a strong increase in the quasiparticle mass at the quantum critical point.

The upper critical field H(c2) of purple bronze Li0:9Mo6O17 is found to exhibit a large anisotropy, in quantitative agreement with that expected from the observed electrical resistivity anisotropy. With the field aligned along the most conducting axis, H(c2) increases monotonically with decreasing temperature to a value 5 times larger than the estimated paramagnetic pair-breaking field. Theories for the enhancement of H(c2) invoking spin-orbit scattering or strong-coupling superconductivity are shown to be inadequate in explaining the observed behavior, suggesting that the pairing state in Li0:9Mo6O17 is unconventional and possibly spin triplet.

We report the separate response of the critical temperature of the nematic phase transition TS to symmetric and antisymmetric strains for the prototypical underdoped iron pnictide Ba(Fe0.975Co0.025)2As2. This decomposition is achieved by comparing the response of TS to inplane uniaxial stress and hydrostatic pressure. In addition to quantifying the two distinct linear responses to symmetric strains, we find a quadratic variation of TS as a response to antisymmetric strains εB 1g = 1 2 (εxx-εyy), exceeding the non linear response to symmetric strains by at least two orders of magnitude. These observations establish orthogonal antisymmetric strain as a powerful tuning parameter for nematic order.In this paper we demonstrate how this can be achieved

Fluctuations around an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP) are believed to lead to unconventional superconductivity and in some cases to high-temperature superconductivity. However, the exact mechanism by which this occurs remains poorly understood. The iron-pnictide superconductor BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 is perhaps the clearest example to date of a high-temperature quantum critical superconductor, and so it is a particularly suitable system to study how the quantum critical fluctuations affect the superconducting state. Here we show that the proximity of the QCP yields unexpected anomalies in the superconducting critical fields. We find that both the lower and upper critical fields do not follow the behaviour, predicted by conventional theory, resulting from the observed mass enhancement near the QCP. Our results imply that the energy of superconducting vortices is enhanced, possibly due to a microscopic mixing of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity, suggesting that a highly unusual vortex state is realized in quantum critical superconductors.

Studying the response of materials to strain can elucidate subtle properties of electronic structure in strongly correlated materials. So far, mostly the relation between strain and resistivity, the so called elastoresistivity, has been investigated. The elastocaloric effect is a second rank tensor quantity describing the relation between entropy and strain. In contrast to the elastoresistivity, the elastocaloric effect is a thermodynamic quantity. Experimentally, elastocaloric effect measurements are demanding since the thermodynamic conditions during the measurement have to be well controlled. Here we present a technique to measure the elastocaloric effect under quasi adiabatic conditions. The technique is based on oscillating strain, which allows for increasing the frequency of the elastocaloric effect above the thermal relaxation rate of the sample. We apply the technique to Co-doped iron pnictide superconductors and show that the thermodynamic signatures of second order phase transitions in the elastocaloric effect closely follow those observed in calorimetry experiments. In contrast to the heat capacity, the electronic signatures in the elastocaloric effect are measured against a small phononic background even at high temperatures, establishing this technique as a powerful complimentary tool for extracting the entropy landscape proximate to a continuous phase transition.

The interaction of many-body systems with intense light pulses may lead to novel emergent phenomena far from equilibrium. Recent discoveries, such as the optical enhancement of the critical temperature in certain superconductors and the photo-stabilization of hidden phases, have turned this field into an important research frontier. Here, we demonstrate nonthermal charge-density-wave (CDW) order at electronic temperatures far greater than the thermodynamic transition temperature. Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved X-ray diffraction, we investigate the electronic and structural order parameters of an ultrafast photoinduced CDW-to-metal transition. Tracking the dynamical CDW recovery as a function of electronic temperature reveals a behaviour markedly different from equilibrium, which we attribute to the suppression of lattice fluctuations in the transient nonthermal phonon distribution. A complete description of the system’s coherent and incoherent order-parameter dynamics is given by a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau framework, providing access to the transient potential energy surfaces.