The influence of Si on the superconducting properties of LiFeAs single crystals

The results of Si doping on the superconducting transition temperature, critical current density, irreversibility field, upper critical field, coherence length and magnetic relaxation of LiFeAs single crystals are reported for H ∥ c. The superconducting transition temperature of the Si doped sample decreases by about of 6.4 K/at.%, which is likely due to the pair breaking effect. The presence of a secondary high-field fishtail maximum, which shifts progressively with temperature, is associated with the extrinsic pinning centers created by Si. The increase of the critical current densities in intermediate magnetic fields of about three times as compared to our undoped material indicates that very small amounts of Si act as effective pinning sites for the flux pinning enhancement in the material. Pinning force curves measured at different temperatures obey a normalized form of Kramer's law, which indicates that the critical current density is limited by one predominant flux pinning mechanism. Analysis of the temperature and field dependences of the magnetic relaxation is consistent with the collective pinning model. The magnetic relaxation measurements combined with the peak position of the critical current density in the B–T phase diagram suggest an elastic–plastic transition of the vortex lattice at higher temperatures and fields. (paper)