Crystal growth and ambient and high pressure study of the reentrant superconductor Tm_2Fe_3Si_5

TL;DR

This study reports the growth and comprehensive magnetic, electrical, and thermal characterization of the reentrant superconductor Tm_2Fe_3Si_5, revealing its magnetic anisotropy, antiferromagnetic order, and pressure-induced superconductivity with a non-monotonic T_c behavior.

Contribution

It provides the first single crystal growth of Tm_2Fe_3Si_5 and detailed ambient and high-pressure measurements of its magnetic and superconducting properties.

Findings

Bulk antiferromagnetic order at T_N=1.1 K

Superconductivity appears only under pressure ≥2 kbar

Non-monotonic T_c dependence on pressure

Abstract

We report single crystal growth of the reentrant superconductor Tm_2Fe_3Si_5, and measurements of the anisotropic static magnetic susceptibility \chi(T) and isothermal magnetization M(H), ac susceptibility \chi_ac(T), electrical resistivity \rho(T) and heat capacity C(T) at ambient pressure and \chi_ac(T) at high pressure. The magnetic susceptibility along the c-axis \chi_c(T) shows a small maximum around 250 K and does not follow the Curie-Weiss behavior while the magnetic susceptibility along the a-axis \chi_a(T) follows a Curie-Weiss behavior between 130 K and 300 K with a Weiss temperature \theta and an effective magnetic moment \mu_eff which depend on the temperature range of the fit. The easy axis of magnetization is perpendicular to the c-axis and \chi_a/\chi_c = 3.2 at 1.8 K. The ambient pressure \chi_ac(T) and C(T) measurements confirm bulk antiferromagnetic ordering at T_N = 1.1 K. The sharp drop in \chi_ac below T_N is suggestive of the existence of a spin-gap. We observe superconductivity only under applied pressures P\geq 2 kbar. The temperature-pressure phase diagram showing the non-monotonic dependence of the superconducting transition temperature T_c on pressure P is presented.