Coexistence of Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in PrFeAsO$_{1-\delta}$

Abstract

A high-quality PrFeAsO$_{1-\delta}$ single crystal ($T_{\rm c}=44$ K) has been investigated by the magnetic torque. Antiferromagnetism of the Pr$^{3+}$ ions was found to coexist with superconductivity in PrFeAsO$_{1-\delta}$ at temperatures below $T_\mathrm{N}=14$ K. We predict a magnetic structure that is not in accordance with earlier neutron studies performed using polycrystalline nonsuperconducting specimens. As the temperature decreases, the superconducting anisotropy $\gamma\sim 4$ of PrFeAsO$_{1-\delta}$ increases near $T_c$ and tends to decrease slightly at lower temperatures.