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We carried out a study of the pressure dependence of the solidification temperature in nine pressure transmitting media that are liquid at ambient temperature, under pressures up to 2.3 GPa. These fluids are: 1:1 isopentane/n-pentane, 4:6 light mineral oil/n-pentane, 1:1 isoamyl alcohol/n-pentane, 4:1 methanol/ethanol, 1:1 FC72/FC84 (Fluorinert), Daphne 7373, isopentane, and Dow Corning PMX silicone oils 200 and 60,000 cst. We relied on the sensitivity of the electrical resistivity of Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 single crystals to the freezing of the pressure media, and cross-checked with corresponding anomalies observed in the resistance of the manganin coil that served as the ambient temperature resistive manometer. In addition to establishing the Temperature-Pressure line separating the liquid (hydrostatic) and frozen (non-hydrostatic) phases, these data permit rough estimates of the freezing pressure of these media at ambient temperature. This pressure establishes the extreme limit for the medium to be considered hydrostatic. For higher applied pressures the medium has to be treated as non-hydrostatic., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Review of Scientific Instruments

Pressure is the cleanest way to tune heavy fermion systems to a quantum phase transition in order to study the rich physics and competing phases, and the comparison between ytterbium and cerium systems is particularly fruitful. We briefly review the mechanisms in play and show some examples of expected and unexpected behaviour. We emphasize the importance of the valence changes under pressure and show how modern synchrotron techniques can accurately determine this, including at low temperature., Comment: To appear in proceedings of International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism ICSM 2012 (Istanbul)

The ab-plane resistivity of Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 (x = 0.00, 0.09, 0.16, 0.21, and 0.28) was studied under nearly hydrostatic pressures, up to 7.4 GPa, in order to explore the T-P phase diagram and to compare the combined effects of iso-electronic Ru substitution and pressure. The parent compound BaFe2As2 exhibits a structural/magnetic phase transition near 134 K. At ambient pressure, progressively increasing Ru concentration suppresses this phase transition to lower temperatures at the approximate rate of ~5 K/% Ru and is correlated with the emergence of superconductivity. By applying pressure to this system, a similar behavior is seen for each concentration: the structural/magnetic phase transition is further suppressed and superconductivity induced and ultimately, for larger x Ru and P, suppressed. A detailed comparison of the T-P phase diagrams for all Ru concentrations shows that 3 GPa of pressure is roughly equivalent to 10% Ru substitution. Furthermore, due to the sensitivity of Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 to pressure conditions, the melting of the liquid media, 4 : 6 light mineral oil : n-pentane and 1 : 1 iso-pentane : n-pentane, used in this study could be readily seen in the resistivity measurements. This feature was used to determine the freezing curves for these media and infer their room temperature, hydrostatic limits: 3.5 and 6.5 GPa, respectively., Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures

We present temperature dependent resistivity and ac-calorimetry measurements of CeVSb3 under pressure up to 8 GPa in a Bridgman anvil cell modified to use a liquid medium and in a diamond anvil cell using argon as a pressure medium, respectively. We observe an initial increase of the ferromagnetic transition temperature Tc with pressures up to 4.5 GPa, followed by decrease of Tc on further increase of pressure and finally its disappearance, in agreement with the Doniach model. We infer a ferromagnetic quantum critical point around 7 GPa under hydrostatic pressure conditions from the extrapolation to 0 K of Tc and the maximum of the A coefficient from low temperature fits of the resistivity \rho (T)=\rho_{0}+AT^{n}. No superconductivity under pressure was observed down to 0.35 K for this compound. In addition, differences in the Tc(P) behavior when a slight uniaxial component is present are noticed and discussed and correlated to choice of pressure medium.

Microscopic, structural, transport and thermodynamic measurements of single crystalline Ba(Fe1-xTMx)2As2 (TM = Ni and Cu) series, as well as two mixed TM = Cu / Co series, are reported. All the transport and thermodynamic measurements indicate that the structural and magnetic phase transitions at 134 K in pure BaFe2As2 are monotonically suppressed and increasingly separated in a similar manner by these dopants. In the Ba(Fe1-xNix)2As2 (x =< 0.072), superconductivity, with Tc up to 19 K, is stabilized for 0.024 =< x =< 0.072. In the Ba(Fe1-xCux)2As2 (x =< 0.356) series, although the structural and magnetic transitions are suppressed, there is only a very limited region of superconductivity: a sharp drop of the resistivity to zero near 2.1 K is found only for the x = 0.044 samples. In the Ba(Fe1-x-yCoxCuy)2As2 series, superconductivity, with Tc values up to 12 K (x ~ 0.022 series) and 20 K (x ~ 0.047 series), is stabilized. Quantitative analysis of the detailed temperature-dopant concentration (T-x) and temperature-extra electrons (T-e) phase diagrams of these series shows that there exists a limited range of the number of extra electrons added, inside which the superconductivity can be stabilized if the structural and magnetic phase transitions are suppressed enough. Moreover, comparison with pressure-temperature phase diagram data, for samples spanning the whole doping range, further reenforces the conclusion that suppression of the structural / magnetic phase transition temperature enhances Tc on the underdoped side, but for the overdoped side Tcmax is determined by e. Therefore, by choosing the combination of dopants that are used, we can adjust the relative positions of the upper phase lines (structural and magnetic phase transitions) and the superconducting dome to control the occurrence and disappearance of the superconductivity in transition metal, electron-doped BaFe2As2., Comment: 42 pages, 27 figures, 5 tables

The temperature dependent electrical resistivity of single crystalline SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 has been measured in a liquid medium, modified Bridgman anvil cell for pressures in excess of 75 kbar. These data allow for the determination of the pressure dependence of the higher temperature, structural / antiferromagnetic phase transitions as well as the lower temperature superconducting phase transition. For both compounds the ambient pressure, higher temperature structural / antiferromagnetic phase transition can be fully suppressed with a dome-like region of zero resistivity found to be centered about its critical pressure. Indeed, qualitatively, the temperature dependence of the resistivity curves closest to the critical pressures are the closest to linear, consistent with possible quantum criticality. For pressures significantly higher than the critical pressure the zero resistivity state is suppressed and the low temperature resistivity curves asymptotically approach a universal, low temperature manifold. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that correlations / fluctuations associated with the ambient-pressure, high-temperature, tetragonal phase have to be brought to low enough temperature to allow superconductivity, but if too fully suppressed can lead to the loss of the superconducting state.