Die Dissertation beschreibt Untersuchungen der intermetallischen Verbindungen TbxY1-xNi2B2C bzw. TbxEr1-xNi2B2C, Tb2PdSi3 sowie Dy2PdSi3, die sich auszeichnen durch physikalische Erscheinungen, die durch die Wechselwirkung der magnetischen Momente der Seltenerd (SE)-Ionen mit den Leitungselektronen hervorgerufen werden. Sie umfasst Beiträge zur Konstitution der Legierungssysteme, methodische Untersuchungen zur Einkristallzüchtung, zur Charakterisierung der Homogenität und Perfektion der Kristalle und zu physikalischen Eigenschaften (Supraleitung, Magnetismus). Die für das Erstarrungs- und Schmelzverhalten der intermetallischen Phasen relevanten quasi-binären Schnitte der Tb-(Y, Er)-Ni-B-C bzw. Tb(Dy)-Pd-Si-Phasendiagramme, die bisher noch nicht bekannt waren, konnten bestimmt werden. Damit wurden die Prozessparameter der Einkristallzüchtung durch tiegelfreies Zonenschmelzen optimiert. Die unterschiedlichen Erstarrungstypen, peritektische Erstarrung (SENi2B2C) bzw. kongruentes Erstarren (SE2PdSi3), wurden durch unterschiedliche Ziehgeschwindigkeiten bei der Einkristallzüchtung berücksichtigt. An den massiven Einkristallen wurden Homogenitätsuntersuchungen hinsichtlich Elementkonzentration und physikalischer Eigenschaften (Tc, Tn, RRR) als Funktion der Längskoordinate durchgeführt, die geringe Eigenschaftsunterschiede der einkristallinen Proben nachweisen. Aus der Zusammensetzungsänderung über die Kristalllänge konnte in Verbindung mit in-situ Messungen der Zonentemperatur ein einfaches Prozessmodell des Zonenschmelzens der untersuchten Verbindungen entwickelt werden. Die Korrelation von magnetischen und supraleitenden Eigenschaften der Borokarbidmischreihen werden primär vom Verhältnis der Seltenen Erden bestimmt aber auch durch die Konzentration der weiteren Elemente. An Einkristallen konnte eine Anisotropie des oberen kritischen Feldes der Supraleitung von TbxY1-xNi2B2C gezeigt werden, die durch die magnetischen Tb-Ionen bestimmt wird. Die Untersuchungen der Tb2PdSi3- und Dy2PdSi3-Einkristalle ergaben eine Anisotropie der magnetoelektrischen Eigenschaften. / In this thesis investigations of the intermetallic compounds TbxY1-xNi2B2C, TbxEr1-xNi2B2C, Tb2PdSi3 and Dy2PdSi3 are presented. These compounds exhibit interesting physical phenomena caused by the interaction of the rare earth (RE) magnetic moments on the conduction electrons. Moreover, contributions on the constitution of the alloy systems, basic investigations of crystal growth process, homogeneity, microstructure and physical properties (superconductivity, magnetism) of the crystals are given. The quasi-binary sections of the Tb-(Y, Er)-Ni-B-C and Tb(Dy)-Pd-Si-phase diagrams which are relevant for the crystallisation of the different intermetallic phases have been determined for the first time. They were utilised for optimisation of the process parameters of single crystal growth by floating-zone melting. Because of the different solidification modes of RENi2B2C (peritectic solidification) and RE2PdSi3 (congruent solidification) different growth velocities have been employed in crystal growth. The composition and the physical properties (Tc, Tn, RRR) have been investigated as function of the crystal axis co-ordinate. As these properties show only a slight shift over the crystal length samples are representative for the whole crystal. From the slight composition shift over the crystal length a process model of the floating zone growth has been developed utilising the in-situ measurements of the zone-temperature. The correlation of magnetic and superconducting properties of the borocarbide solid solution compounds are mainly governed by the RE-fraction but they are also influenced by the concentration of the other elements. For TbxY1-xNi2B2C single crystals an anisotropic upper critical field of superconductivity has been detected which is induced by the magnetic Tb-ions. The investigations of Tb2PdSi3 and Dy2PdSi3 revealed an anisotropy of the magnetoresistive properties.

Die Dissertation beschreibt Untersuchungen der intermetallischen Verbindungen TbxY1-xNi2B2C bzw. TbxEr1-xNi2B2C, Tb2PdSi3 sowie Dy2PdSi3, die sich auszeichnen durch physikalische Erscheinungen, die durch die Wechselwirkung der magnetischen Momente der Seltenerd (SE)-Ionen mit den Leitungselektronen hervorgerufen werden. Sie umfasst Beiträge zur Konstitution der Legierungssysteme, methodische Untersuchungen zur Einkristallzüchtung, zur Charakterisierung der Homogenität und Perfektion der Kristalle und zu physikalischen Eigenschaften (Supraleitung, Magnetismus). Die für das Erstarrungs- und Schmelzverhalten der intermetallischen Phasen relevanten quasi-binären Schnitte der Tb-(Y, Er)-Ni-B-C bzw. Tb(Dy)-Pd-Si-Phasendiagramme, die bisher noch nicht bekannt waren, konnten bestimmt werden. Damit wurden die Prozessparameter der Einkristallzüchtung durch tiegelfreies Zonenschmelzen optimiert. Die unterschiedlichen Erstarrungstypen, peritektische Erstarrung (SENi2B2C) bzw. kongruentes Erstarren (SE2PdSi3), wurden durch unterschiedliche Ziehgeschwindigkeiten bei der Einkristallzüchtung berücksichtigt. An den massiven Einkristallen wurden Homogenitätsuntersuchungen hinsichtlich Elementkonzentration und physikalischer Eigenschaften (Tc, Tn, RRR) als Funktion der Längskoordinate durchgeführt, die geringe Eigenschaftsunterschiede der einkristallinen Proben nachweisen. Aus der Zusammensetzungsänderung über die Kristalllänge konnte in Verbindung mit in-situ Messungen der Zonentemperatur ein einfaches Prozessmodell des Zonenschmelzens der untersuchten Verbindungen entwickelt werden. Die Korrelation von magnetischen und supraleitenden Eigenschaften der Borokarbidmischreihen werden primär vom Verhältnis der Seltenen Erden bestimmt aber auch durch die Konzentration der weiteren Elemente. An Einkristallen konnte eine Anisotropie des oberen kritischen Feldes der Supraleitung von TbxY1-xNi2B2C gezeigt werden, die durch die magnetischen Tb-Ionen bestimmt wird. Die Untersuchungen der Tb2PdSi3- und Dy2PdSi3-Einkristalle ergaben eine Anisotropie der magnetoelektrischen Eigenschaften. / In this thesis investigations of the intermetallic compounds TbxY1-xNi2B2C, TbxEr1-xNi2B2C, Tb2PdSi3 and Dy2PdSi3 are presented. These compounds exhibit interesting physical phenomena caused by the interaction of the rare earth (RE) magnetic moments on the conduction electrons. Moreover, contributions on the constitution of the alloy systems, basic investigations of crystal growth process, homogeneity, microstructure and physical properties (superconductivity, magnetism) of the crystals are given. The quasi-binary sections of the Tb-(Y, Er)-Ni-B-C and Tb(Dy)-Pd-Si-phase diagrams which are relevant for the crystallisation of the different intermetallic phases have been determined for the first time. They were utilised for optimisation of the process parameters of single crystal growth by floating-zone melting. Because of the different solidification modes of RENi2B2C (peritectic solidification) and RE2PdSi3 (congruent solidification) different growth velocities have been employed in crystal growth. The composition and the physical properties (Tc, Tn, RRR) have been investigated as function of the crystal axis co-ordinate. As these properties show only a slight shift over the crystal length samples are representative for the whole crystal. From the slight composition shift over the crystal length a process model of the floating zone growth has been developed utilising the in-situ measurements of the zone-temperature. The correlation of magnetic and superconducting properties of the borocarbide solid solution compounds are mainly governed by the RE-fraction but they are also influenced by the concentration of the other elements. For TbxY1-xNi2B2C single crystals an anisotropic upper critical field of superconductivity has been detected which is induced by the magnetic Tb-ions. The investigations of Tb2PdSi3 and Dy2PdSi3 revealed an anisotropy of the magnetoresistive properties.

In this work, electrical transport properties and the maximum current carrying capability of YBa2Cu3O7-[delta] thin films and so called quasi-multilayers are investigated. These samples are prepared with pulsed laser deposition on single-crystalline substrates (SrTiO3) as well as on biaxially textured Ni tapes. The critical current density of coated conductors is limited by small-angle grain boundaries in low magnetic fields, but by the intra-grain pinning properties in higher magnetic fields. Accordingly, these investigations are divided into two parts: In the first part, the limitation of the critical current density by grain-boundaries and grain boundary networks is investigated with the main focus on the influence of geometrical factors such as the conductor width or the grain aspect ratio. In the second part, a possible enhancement of the critical current density due to different doping types (atomar doping using Zn and precipitate doping using BaMO3 where M is a transition metal) will be discussed. Here, not only the irreversibility field but also the pinning behaviour in very low magnetic fields is of interest to better understand the pinning mechanism of thin films. / In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden elektrische Transporteigenschaften und die maximale Stromtragfähigkeit von YBa2Cu3O7-[delta]-Dünnschichten und -Schichtsystemen, die mit Hilfe der gepulsten Laserdeposition sowohl auf einkristallinem Substrat, SrTiO3, als auch auf biaxial texturierten Ni-Bändern deponiert wurden, untersucht. Da in kleinen Magnetfeldern Kleinwinkelkorngrenzen die kritische Stromdichte in Bandleitern begrenzen, in höheren jedoch die Pinningeigenschaften der Körner, gliedern sich diese Untersuchungen in zwei Teile: Im ersten wird die Limitierung der kritischen Stromdichte jc durch Korngrenzen und Korngrenzennetzwerke näher untersucht, wobei besonders Geometrieeinflüsse, wie die Leiterbahnbreite oder das Aspektverhältnis der Körner, interessieren. Im zweiten wird eine mögliche Erhöhung der kritischen Stromdichte durch verschiedene Dotierungen (atomare Dotierung: Zn, Ausscheidungsdotierung: BaMO3, M Metall) erörtert. Dabei ist nicht nur das Irreversibilitätsfeld interessant, sondern auch das Pinningverhalten in sehr kleinen Magnetfeldern, da so die Pinningmechanismen in Dünnschichten besser verstanden werden können.

This work is focused on the parent compounds of the Fe-chalcogenide superconductors. For this purpose poly- and single-crystalline forms of tetragonal β-FexSe, Fe1+yTe, Fe1+yTe1-xSex and Fe(1+y)-xMxTe (M = Ni, Co) have been prepared. Second focal points of this study are the low-temperature structural phase transitions and physical property changes in tetragonal Fe1+yTe which are induced by composition, external pressure, and cationic substitution.

The present work covers the fabrication and electrical and magnetic investigation of LaNiO3- and LaMnO3- based superlattices (SL). In recent years, several interesting theoretical predictions have been made in these SLs, for example, Mott insulators, metal-insulator transitions, superconductivity, topological insulators, and Chern insulators. Motivated by the promising theoretical predictions, four kinds of SLs with different designed structures and orientations were systematically studied in this thesis. The samples were grown by pulsed laser deposition with in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction to monitor the two-dimensional layer-by-layer growth process. In order to ensure the high-quality of SLs, growth parameters were optimised. Characteristic methods like X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used. These measurements proved the high-quality of the SLs and provided the basis for electrical and magnetic measurements. The first studied SL is the (001)-oriented LaNiO3/LaAlO3 SL, which was predicted as a superconductor in theory. Temperature-dependent resistivity measurements revealed a metal-insulator transition by lowering the dimensionality of the LaNiO3 layers in the SLs from three dimensions to two dimensions. The second studied SL is the (111)-oriented LaNiO3/LaAlO3 SL, which was predicted as a topological insulator in theory. The polarity-controlled conductivity was observed and the intrinsic conductivity mechanisms were discussed by means of appropriate modeling. The third studied SL is LaMnO3/LaAlO3 SL, which was predicted as a Chern insulator in theory. By lowering the temperature, a paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition and a thermal activated behavior were observed in the SLs. The last studied SL is the LaNiO3/LaMnO3 SL, in which an exchange bias effect was expected. The studies reveal the exchange bias exists in three kinds of SLs with different orientations.

In this thesis, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility and resistivity studies on the iron-pnictide superconductors LiFeAs, NaFe1-xCoxAs, AFe2As2 (A = K, Ca, Ba), M1-xNaxFe2As2 (M = Ca, Ba), and Ca(Fe1-xCox)2Fe2As2 are presented, from which different intrinsic physical properties are resolved. The combined first-order spindensity wave/structural transition which occurs in the parent compounds of the 122 pnictide systems is shown to gradually shift to lower temperature for low doping levels. Upon higher doping, this transition is completely suppressed and simultaneously, superconductivity appears at lower temperature. In contrast, the phase diagram in Ca(Fe1-xCox)2Fe2As2 is shown to exhibit a pronounced region of coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity. Further important results reported in this work concern the electronic properties and superconducting-gap characteristics. In LiFeAs, the zero-field temperature dependence of the electronic specific heat can be well described by two s-wave gaps, whose magnitudes are in agreement with ARPES results. Our gap analysis in KFe2As2, Ca0.32Na0.68Fe2As2, and Ba0.65Na0.35Fe2As2 single crystals also implies the presence of two s-wave-like gaps. The magnetic phase diagram of LiFeAs and KFe2As2 for magnetic fields along both principal orientations has been constructed and an anisotropy of Hc2(T) of 3 and 5, respectively, has been obtained.

This thesis represents a systematic study of electronic structure of the modulation-free Pb-doped Bi2212 superconducting cuprates with respect to interlayer coupling done by using the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), which is a leading technique in the experimental investigation of the single particle excitations in solids. The results presented in this work indicate a very different origin for the observed complex spectra lineshape. Specifically, the peak-dip-hump lineshape can be easily understood in terms of the superposition of spectral features due to bilayer band splitting, namely the splitting of the CuO2 plane derived electronic structure in bonding and antibonding bands due to the interlayer coupling of CuO2 bilayer blocks within the unit cell of Bi2212. By performing experiments at synchrotron beamlines where the energy of the incoming photons can be tuned over a very broad range, the detailed matrix elements energy dependence for both bonding and antibonding bands was determined. This gave the opportunity to study the electronic properties these two bands separately. For the first time, it was proved that the superconducting gap has the same value and symmetry for both bands. Furthermore, having recognized and sorted out the bilayer splitting effects, it became possible to identify more subtle effects hidden in the details of the ARPES lineshapes. On underdoped samples an "intrinsic" peak-dip-hump structure due to the interaction between electrons and a bosonic mode was observed. Studying the doping, temperature, and momentum dependence of the photoemission spectra it was established that: the mode has a characteristic energy of 38-40 meV and causes strong renormalization of the electronic structure only in the superconducting state; the electron-mode coupling is maximal around the (?à,0) point in momentum space and is strongly doping dependent (being greatly enhanced in the underdoped regime). From the above, it was concluded that the bosonic mode must correspond to the sharp magnetic resonance mode observed in inelastic neutron scattering experiments, and that this coupling is relevant to superconductivity and the pairing mechanism in the cuprates.

Motivated by the recent experimental progress in the search for Majorana fermions, we identify signatures of topological superconductivity and propose realistic experiments to observe these signatures. In the first part of this thesis, we study charge transport through a topological superconductor with a pair of Majorana end states, coupled to leads via quantum dots with resonant levels. The nonlocality of the Majorana bound states opens the possibility of Cooper pair splitting with nonlocal shot noise. In the space of quantum dot energy levels, we find a characteristic four-peaked cloverlike pattern for the strength of noise due to Cooper pair splitting, distinct from the single ellipsoidal peak found in the absence of Majorana end states. Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems are promising candidates for the realiza- tion Majorana fermions and topological order in solid state devices. In the second part, we show that the topological order is mirrored in the excitation spectra and can be observed in nonlinear Coulomb blockade transport through a ring-shaped nanowire. Especially, the ex- citation spectrum is almost independent of magnetic flux in the topologically trivial phase but acquires a characteristic h/e magnetic flux periodicity in the nontrivial phase. The transition between the trivial and nontrivial phase is reflected in the closing and reopening of an excitation gap. In the third part, we investigate characteristic features in the spin response of doped three-dimensional topological insulators with odd-parity unequal-spin superconducting pairing, which are predicted to have gapless Majorana surface modes. These Majorana modes contribute to the spin response, giving rise to a characteristic temperature behavior of the Knight shift and the spin-lattice relaxation time in magnetic resonance experiments.

This thesis is devoted to studies of high temperature superconductors and related materials using the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Though there is no accepted theory of superconductivity, encompassing high-$T_{\\rm c}$ materials, there is enough evidence to believe that superconductivity can always be interpreted as stemming from pairing of electrons by interaction with bosons, and $T_{\\rm c}$ is determined by effectiveness of such a pairing. ARPES, owing to the possibility of recording energy- and momentum-resolved electronic spectrum, is a powerful probe of the normal-state electronic structure, which is an important prerequisite for the superconductivity, and implications of the electron pairing, such as emergence of the superconducting gap and finer features below $T_{\\rm c}$. Based on ARPES data one can quantify the electronic interactions by analysis of kinks in the dispersion curves, spectral line widths etc. In current work new methods of ARPES data analysis were developed and applied to the spectra taken from cuprate and iron-based high-$T_{\\rm c}$. The possibility to analyze the macroscopic response of solids in the normal state as well as in the superconducting and charge-density-wave phases basing on the experimentally measured renormalized band dispersion and anisotropic superconducting and charge-density-wave gap was shown. The thesis consists of five parts. Part 1 introduces the employed notions of electrons in solids and methods of their investigation. Part 2 describes the Voigt fitting procedure, allowed for purification of the spectra from resolution effects, and, consequently, for determination of the quasiparticle scattering rate with enhanced precision. In Part 3 the calculation of the temperature-dependent Hall coefficient in the charge-density-wave-bearing 2H-TaSe$_2$ from the band dispersion, measured in ARPES, is presented, and comparison to the independent magnetotransport measurements is shown. The extraction of the band dispersion of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ and LiFeAs from ARPES data can be found in Part 4. Agreement with Hall effect measurements on the same samples is demonstrated. Part 5 introduces the extraction of the momentum-dependent superconducting gap in iron arsenides from fitting of ARPES spectra to Dynes function. The superfluid density was calculated from the band dispersion and the superconducting gap, measured in ARPES, and compared to the ones measured by different techniques.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2006.