Magnetic and Transport Properties of Single Crystalline K 0.8Fe 2 − x Ir x Se2

Abstract

A series of K0.8Fe2−xIr x Se2 single-crystal compounds with nominal compositions x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.1 were successfully synthesized using self-flux method. It is found that the Ir doping in the present system will induce a suppression of the c-axis lattice constants. However, the zero-resistance temperatures, $\mathrm {T}_{\mathrm {c}}^{\text {zero}}$ , are nearly maintained around 32 K for the samples with x ≤ 0.05, and it drops to 29 K for the one with x = 0.07. The superconductivity vanishes when the doping level reaches to 0.1. The hump in resistivity which corresponds to the transition from the insulating to metallic phase shifts towards low temperatures. However, the magnitude of the normal-state resistivity above 100 K for Ir-doped samples with x ≤ 0.05 is smaller than the one of the undoped sample, indicating the doping at Fe vacancy site. An onset transition temperature of 44 K has been observed in the ρ-T curve for K0.8Fe1.95Ir0.05Se2.