Speaker
Description
Recent theoretical predictions have suggested that the band structure of BaCr2As2 is similar to the parent BaFe2As2 phase in such a way that doping that compresses the lattice and/or donates electrons to the may induce a superconducting ground state. We at AFRL have successfully grown both the parent phase BaCr2As2 compound and its doped daughters in single crystal form. These doped materials were characterized in terms of their fundamental magnetic, electrical, structural, and thermodynamic properties in a search for superconductivity. Correlations were made between these properties. Synchrotron and/or neutron diffraction was used to map structural and/or magnetic phase transitions. Finally, density functional theory is used to explain the properties we measure in terms of the electronic structure of the material and its evolution with doping.