Terahertz and infrared spectroscopy of novel superconductors

The present thesis is devoted to the investigation of novel superconductors by phase-sensitive terahertz transmission and infrared to ultraviolet spectroscopy. In particular, a nominally undoped Pr2CuO4 superconducting thin film, an FeTe0.5Se0.5 thin film, and a LiFeAs single crystal have been investigated. The emphasis is on the low-frequency part of the optical spectrum (i.e., the terahertz and infrared spectrum), as the goal of the study was to shed light on the size and symmetry of the superconducting gaps and also to determine the temperature dependences as well as the absolute values of the penetration depth, which are key input parameters for models applicable for new superconductors. In addition, niobium has been investigated as a reference, so as to see what is expected from conventional superconductors and to clarify the electrodynamics of niobium. A superconducting Nb thin film with Tc of 8.04 K has been investigated by backward wave oscillator-based (BWO-based) and time-domain terahertz (TDT) spectrometers in the frequency range between 4 and 100 cm−1 for temperatures ranging from 2 to 10 K. From these measurements an energy gap of 22.50 cm−1 = 2.79 meV = 4.02kBTc have been determined. The optical conductivity below Tc could nicely be described by calculations according to the Eliashberg theory, with the electron-phonon interaction evaluated from tunneling measurements. Absolute values of the penetration depth have been calculated from phase-sensitive terahertz measurements. The zero-temperature limit of at T = 0 is found to be 115 ± 5 nm. From this value, a London penetration depth of 43 ± 2 nm has been obtained. The overall temperature dependence of the penetration depth follows a behavior typical for conventional s-wave superconductors. A superconducting Pr2CuO4 film with T0 structure and Tc of 27 K has been investigated by use of optical methods in a wide frequency (5 – 55000 cm−1) and temperature (2 – 300 K) range. A Drude-like peak centered at zero frequency is observed in the optical conductivity below 150 K, above which it shifts to finite frequencies. The detailed analysis of the low-frequency conductivity reveals that the Drude peak and a far-infrared (FIR) peak centered at about 300 cm−1 persist at all temperatures. The FIR spectral weight is found to grow at the expense of the Drude spectral weight with increasing temperature. Absolute values of the penetration depth have been obtained from temperature and frequency-dependent measurements. The zero-temperature limit of is estimated to be 1600 ± 100 nm. The overall temperature dependence of follows a behaviour typical for cuprate superconductors. However, a closer look at the penetration depth at T 12 K reveals a flattening in the temperature dependence. A superconducting FeTe0.5Se0.5 thin film with Tc = 19 K has been investigated using a combination of BWO and TDT spectroscopy in the frequency range 4 - 80 cm−1 and between 3 and 150 K. From such measurements, a superconducting energy gap of 30 cm−1, representing a coupling strength = 2.27, is observed. Further, the penetration depth has been derived from the temperature dependence of the imaginary part of complex conductivity with the penetration depth = 530 ± 10 nm at lowest measured temperature. The temperature-dependent normalized superfluid density, just as is the case with most iron-based superconductors, could nicely be described by the so-called two-gap gamma model. Finally, a superconducting LiFeAs single crystal with Tc = 18 K has been investigated by optical spectroscopy in the frequency range 15 - 55000 cm−1 between 5 and 300 K. From these measurements, no clear signature of the superconducting energy-gap opening could be identified in spite of the spectral weight been suppressed in the infrared frequency regime below Tc. This indicates that LiFeAs single crystal is in a clean limit. With the aid of the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham (FGT) sum rule, an absolute penetration depth of 215 nm has been calculated from the missing area at 5 K.