Evolution of superconductivity in PrFe1-xCoxAsO with x = 0.0 to 1.0
  We report the synthesis and physical property characterization of PrFe1-xCoxAsO with x = 0.0 to 1.0. The studied samples are synthesized by solid state reaction route via vacuum encapsulation method. The pristine compound PrFeAsO does not show superconductivity, but rather exhibits a metallic step like transition due to spin density wave ordering of Fe moments below 150 K, followed by another upward step due to anomalous ordering of Pr moments at 12 K. Both the Fe-SDW and Pr-TN temperatures decrease monotonically with Co substitution at Fe site. Superconductivity appears in a narrow range of x from 0.07 to 0.25 with maximum Tc at 11.12 K for x = 0.15. Samples, with x = 0.25 exhibit metallic behavior right from 300 K down to 2 K, without any Fe-SDW or Pr-TN steps in resistivity. In fact, though Fe-SDW decreases monotonically, the Pr-TN is disappeared even with x = 0.02. The magneto transport measurements below 14 Tesla on superconducting polycrystalline Co doped PrFeAsO lead to extrapolated values of the upper critical fields [Hc2(0)] of up to 60 Tesla. 
Poonam Rani, Anand Pal and V. P. S. Awana
cond-mat.supr-con