2022/04/07 by Kriti Ranjan Sahu, Sahu, Kriti R, Thomas Wolf +9
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Iron-based superconductors research #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Semiconductor materials and interfaces #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2204.03491
openalex publication_date 2022/04/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Energetic ion irradiation usually decreases superconducting critical temperature(Tc), with the few exceptions involving increases up to a few K only. However, our recent 2.5X1015 Ar/cm2 irradiations by 1.5 MeV Ar6+ enhanced Tc of the single crystal Fe-superconductor Ba(Fe0.943Co0.057)2As2 by 8.2 K from its initial onset Tc of ~16.9 K as measured from the real part of the magnetic susceptibility, matching measurements from the imaginary part, electrical resistivity and magnetization. Ozaki et al. (2016) explained their Tc increase of 0.5 K in FeSe0.5Te0.5 films with the thickness (t) < the irradiating proton range (R), as due to a nanoscale compressive strain developed from radiation damage of the lattice. Here, Ar irradiation with t > R results in an Ar implanted layer in our crystal. Implanted inert gas atoms often agglomerate into high-pressure bubbles to exert a large compressive strain on the lattice. We suggest that this additional compressive strain could be the reason for such a large (~49%) Tc increase.