Pressure-induced superconductivity in BaFe2As2 single crystal

The evolution of pressure-induced superconductivity in single crystal as well as polycrystalline samples of BaFe2As2 have been investigated through temperature-dependent electrical resistivity studies in the 0-7GPa pressure range. While the superconducting transition remains incomplete in the polycrystalline sample, a clear pressure-induced superconductivity with zero resistivity at the expense of magnetic transition, associated with spin density wave (SDW), is observed in the single-crystal sample. The superconducting transition temperature (T-C) is seen to increase upto a moderate pressure of about similar to 1.5GPa and decreases monotonically beyond this pressure. The SDW transition temperature T-SDW decreases rapidly with increasing pressure and vanishes above similar to 1.5GPa. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2009