Search for new materials and properties in the pyrochlore oxides

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The study of non-Cu-based oxide superconductors has been extended during the last decade, aiming at understanding the role of electron correlations in the mechanism of superconductivity or searching for a novel pairing mechanism, hopefully to reach a higher Tc. An interesting example recently found is a family of pyrochlore oxide superconductors. The first discovered is a-pyrochlore rhenate Cd_2Re_2O_7 with T_c = 1.0 K and the second β-pyrochlore osmate AOs_2O_6 with T_c = 3.3, 6.3, and 9.6 K for A = Cs, Rb, and K, respectively. They crystallize in the cubic pyrochlore structure of space group Fd-3m and commonly possess a 3D skeleton made of ReO_6 or OsO_6 octahedra. The "pyrochlore" sublattice occupied by the transition metal ions is comprised of corner-sharing tetrahedra that are known to be highly frustrating for a localized spin system with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions.Chemical trends of fundamental superconducting parameters and normal-state properties are studied for a family of pyrochlore oxide superconductors. Particularly, the change of T_c from 1.0 K for α-pyrochlore Cd_2Re_2O_7 to 3.3 K (A = Cs), 6.3 K (Rb), and 9.6 K (K) for β-pyrochlore AOs_2O_6 is discussed on the basis of the conventional BCS scheme. Enhanced T_c and anomalous features observed for KOs_2O_6 are ascribed to low-energy phonons probably coming from the rattling of the K cations.