Magnetic and thermal behavior of Ru _0.9Sr ₂YCu _2.1O _7.9 magneto-superconductor synthesized by high-pressure high-temperature technique

The structural, physical, and thermal property details of Ru _0.9Sr ₂YCu _2.1O _7.9 (Y/Ru-1212) superconducting material synthesized through high pressure (6 GPa) and a high temperature (1400∈°C) (HPHT) route are reported here. (Y/Ru-1212) crystallizes in P4/mmm tetragonal structure and is found free of any detectable impurities through X-ray diffractometry. Ru-spins are ordered magnetically above 145 K, with a sizeable ferromagnetic component at 5 K. Further clear diamagnetic transitions are seen in both zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetic susceptibility measurements and exhibiting superconductivity below 50 K. Both the thermoelectric power (S) and thermal conductivity (κ) measurements show superconductivity onset below 50 K with S=0 at 30 K and a broad hump in heat capacity C _p (T) below 30 K. Heat capacity (C _p ) measurements also exhibit the magnetic ordering temperature as a hump below 145 K. The appearance of a hump in C _p (T), instead of a clear transition, is indicative of short range magnetic correlations like spin glass (SG). Neither the high (145 K) nor the low (30 K) temperature humps of C _p (T) could be analyzed quantitatively because of short magnetic correlations in former and mixing of both superconductivity and FM components in a later case. The observed data is compared with various reported Ru-1212 systems synthesized under normal pressure conditions. It is concluded that HPHT synthesized Y/Ru-1212 is a bulk superconductor below 30 K with a substantial FM component.