Electron and phonon band-structure calculations for the antipolar SrPtP antiperovskite superconductor: Evidence of low-energy two-dimensional phonons
arXiv:1207.6196 · doi:10.7566/JPSJ.82.053703
Abstract
SrPt3P has recently been reported to exhibit superconductivity with Tc = 8.4 K. To explore its superconducting mechanism, we have performed electron and phonon band calculations based on the density functional theory, and found that the superconductivity in SrPt3P is well described by the strong coupling phonon-mediated mechanism. We have demonstrated that superconducting charge carriers come from pdπ-hybridized bands between Pt and P ions, which couple to low energy (~ 5 meV) phonon modes confined on the ab in-plane. These in-plane phonon modes, which do not break antipolar nature of SrPt3P, enhance both the electron-phonon coupling constant λand the critical temperature Tc. There is no hint of a specific phonon softening feature in the phonon dispersion, and the effect of the spin-orbit coupling on the superconductivity is found to be negligible.
5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table