We report muon-spin relaxation measurements on SrFeAsF, which is the parent compound of a newly discovered iron-arsenic-fluoride based series of superconducting materials. We find that this material has very similar magnetic properties to LaFeAsO, such as separated magnetic and structural transitions (TN = 120 K, Ts = 175 K), contrasting with SrFe2As2 where they are coincident. The muon oscillation frequencies fall away very sharply at TN, which suggests that the magnetic exchange between the layers is weaker than in comparable oxypnictide compounds. This is consistent with our specific heat measurements, which find that the entropy change S = 0.05 J/mol/K largely occurs at the structural transition and there is no anomaly at TN.
The full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method with the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange and correlation potential (LAPW-GGA) is used to understand the electronic band structure of fluorine-arsenide SrFeAsF as a possible parent material for a new group of oxygen-free FeAs superconductors. The electronic bands, density of states, Fermi surface and atomic charges have been evaluated and discussed for high-temperature tetragonal and low-temperature orthorhombic SrFeAsF phases.
We have successfully synthesized the fluo-arsenide SrFeAsF, a new parent phase with the ZrCuAsSi structure. The temperature dependence of resistivity and dc magnetization both reveal an anomaly at about T_{an} = 173 K, which may correspond to the structural and/or Spin-Density-Wave (SDW) transition. Strong Hall effect and magnetoresistance were observed below T_{an}. Interestingly, the Hall coefficient R_H is positive below T_{an}, which is opposite to the cases in the two parent phases of FeAs-based systems known so far, i.e., LnFeAsO (Ln = rare earth elements) and (Ba, Sr)Fe_2As_2 where the …
The new quaternary iron arsenide-fluoride SrFeAsF with the tetragonal ZrCuSiAs-type structure was synthesized and the crystal structure was determined by X-ray powder diffraction (P4/nmm, a = 399.30(1), c = 895.46(1) pm). SrFeAsF undergoes a structural and magnetic phase transition at 175 K, accompanied by strong anomalies in the specific heat, electrical resistance and magnetic susceptibility. In the course of this transition, the space group symmetry changes from tetragonal (P4/nmm) to orthorhombic (Cmme). 57Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy experiments show a single signal at room temperature at a…
The magnetic ordering and crystal structure of iron pnictide SrFeAsF was investigated by using neutron powder diffraction method. With decreasing temperature, the tetragonal to orthorhombic phase transition is found at 180 K, while the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition set in at 133 K. Similar to the parent compound of other iron pnictide system, the striped Fe magnetism is confirmed in antiferromagnetic phase and the Fe moment of 0.58(6) uB aligned along long a axis. The thermal expansion of orthorhombic phase of SrFeAsF is also investigated. Based on the Grueneisen approxima…
We report detailed measurements of temperature dependence and ab initio lattice dynamical calculations of the phonon density-of-states of two Sr based iron pnictide parent compounds; SrFe2As2 and SrFeAsF. Although both compounds undergo a magnetic as well as a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transitions, no drastic change of their phonon spectra is found in the temperature range from 2 to 300 K.. In both the systems the Fe-As stretching modes at 32 meV react to the temperature change and shift towards higher energies with decreasing temperature. Furthermore, we found that in the an…
By means of first-principle FLAPW-GGA calculations, we have investigated the electronic properties of the newly discovered layered quaternary systems SrFeAsF and CaFeAsF as parent phases for a new group of oxygen-free FeAs superconductors. The electronic bands, density of states, Fermi surfaces, atomic charges, together with Sommerfeld coefficients and molar Pauli paramagnetic susceptibility have been evaluated and discussed in comparison with oxyarsenide LaFeAsO - a parent phase for a new class of high-temperature (Tc about 26-56K) oxygen-containing FeAs superconductors. Similarity of our dat…
The relationship between spin, electron, and crystal structure has been one of the foremost issues in understanding the superconducting mechanism since the discovery of iron-based high temperature superconductors. Here, we report Mössbauer and first-principles calculations studies of the parent compound SrFeAsF with the largest temperature gap ($\sim$50\,K) between the structural and antiferromagnetic (AFM) transitions. Our results reveal that the structural transition has little effect on the electronic structure of the compound SrFeAsF while the development of the AFM order induces a redistr…
We investigate structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of SrFeAsF as a new parent for superconductors using state-of-the-art density-functional theory method. Calculated results show that striped antiferromagnetic order is the magnetic ground state in the Fe layer and interlayer magnetic interaction is tiny. Calculated As and Sr positions are in agreement with experiment. There are only two uniaxially-dispersed bands near the Fermi level. The valent charge is mainly in the Fe and F layers, and the magnetic moment is confined to the Fe atoms. Inter-Fe-spin couplings is due to superexcha…
The appearance of superconductivity at ambient pressures in the undoped iron pnictide parent compound SrFe2As2 is studied experimentally using several techniques and approaches to aid in understanding the nature of this phase. Low temperature magnetization measurements of single crystals of SrFe2As2 reveal diamagnetic screening due to the onset of superconductivity below 21 K, with volume fraction estimates varying between 0 and 15 percent. The effects of heat treatment and cold-working via severe mechanical deformation on the superconducting phase found are studied, showing that superconducti…
Orbital polarization and electronic correlation are two essential aspects in understanding the normal state and superconducting properties of multiorbital FeAs-based superconductors. In this Letter, we present a systematical study on the orbital polarization of iron pnictides from weak to strong Coulomb correlations within the KRSB approach. The magnetic phase diagram of the two-orbital model for LaFeAsO clearly shows that the striped antiferromagnetic metallic phase with considerable orbital polarization exists over a wide doping range. The reversal of the orbital polarization occurs in the i…
We report quantum oscillation measurements that enable the direct observation of the Fermi surface of the low temperature ground state of \ba122. From these measurements we characterize the low energy excitations, revealing that the Fermi surface is reconstructed in the antiferromagnetic state, but leaving itinerant electrons in its wake. The present measurements are consistent with a conventional band folding picture of the antiferromagnetic ground state, placing important limits on the topology and size of the Fermi surface.
The parent compounds of the recently discovered iron-arsenic (pnictide) high temperature superconductors transition into an intriguing spin density wave (SDW) phase at low temperatures. Progress in understanding this SDW state has been complicated by a complex band structure and by the fact that the spin, electronic, and structural degrees of freedom are closely intertwined in these compounds. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements have added to this complexity by revealing different topographies with no consensus on the surface structure. In this paper, we use a combination of high-…
Like high Tc cuprates, the newly discovered iron based superconductors lie in close proximity to a magnetically ordered parent phase. However, while the magnetic order in parent cuprates is known to derive from a spin-spin local superexchange interaction, a plethora of experiments including neutron scattering have so far been unable to conclusively resolve whether a local moment Heisenberg description applies in parent iron based compounds, or whether magnetism arises from a collective SDW order instability. These two alternatives can in principle be distinguished by measuring the low energy m…
We report a combined study of the Nernst coefficient (v), Hall effect and thermoelectric power of CaFe2As2 and CaFe1.92Co0.08As2 single crystals. The absolute value of v in both samples is enhanced, probably due to ambipolar flow of electron- and hole-like quasiparticles. The onset of spin-density-wave order in CaFe2As2 causes further rapid rise of the Nernst coefficient. On the contrary, in the CaFe1.92Co0.08As2 crystal we do not see any feature of v(T), which could be clearly associated with SDW fluctuations. In this Co-doped sample there is also no noticeable increase in of v in the vicinit…
An optical analysis reveals that the electronic correlations in the `parent' compounds of the iron pnictide superconductors are sufficiently strong to significantly impede the mobility of the electrons.
The ThCr2Si2-type arsenide-selenide phase KFe2AsSe is proposed as a parent system for a new "intermediate" group of Fe-based superconducting materials bridging the known families of Fe-pnictides (such as BaFe2As2) and Fe-chalcogenides (such as KxFe2-ySe2) superconductors. The characterization of the proposed charge-balanced phase by means of FLAPW-GGA approach covers the crystal structure, As/Se atomic ordering, stability, electronic bands, Fermi surface, and density of electronic states.
The puzzling nature of magnetic and lattice phase transitions of iron pnictides is investigated via a first-principles Wannier function analysis of representative parent compound LaOFeAs. A rare ferro-orbital ordering is found to give rise to the recently observed highly anisotropic magnetic coupling, and drive the phase transitions--without resorting to widely employed frustration or nesting picture. The revealed necessity of the additional orbital physics leads to a correlated electronic structure fundamentally distinct from that of the cuprates. In particular, the strong coupling to the mag…
We report ultrafast quasiparticle (QP) dynamics and coherent acoustic phonons in undoped CaFe_2As_2 iron pnictide single crystals exhibiting spin-density wave (SDW) and concurrent structural phase transition at temperature TSDW ~ 165 K using femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy. The contributions in transient differential reflectivity arising from exponentially decaying QP relaxation and oscillatory coherent acoustic phonon mode show large variations in the vicinity of T_SDW. From the temperature-dependence of the QP recombination dynamics in the SDW phase, we evaluate a BCS-like …
Using femtosecond time-resolved x-ray diffraction we investigate the structural dynamics of the coherently excited A1g phonon mode in the Fe-pnictide parent compound BaFe2As2. The fluence dependent intensity oscillations of two specific Bragg reflections with distinctly different sensitivity to the pnictogen height in the compound allow us to quantify the coherent modifications of the Fe-As tetrahedra, indicating a transient increase of the Fe magnetic moments. By a comparison with time-resolved photoemission data we derive the electron-phonon deformation potential for this particular mode. Th…
Using angle resolved photoemission it is shown that the low lying electronic states of the iron pnictide parent compound EuFe$_2$As$_2$ are strongly modified in the magnetically ordered, low temperature, orthorhombic state compared to the tetragonal, paramagnetic case above the spin density wave transition temperature. Back-folded bands, reflected in the orthorhombic/ anti-ferromagnetic Brillouin zone boundary hybridize strongly with the non-folded states, leading to the opening of energy gaps. As a direct consequence, the large Fermi surfaces of the tetragonal phase fragment, the low temperat…
Emergent superconductivity is strongly correlated with the symmetry of local atomic configuration in the parent compounds of iron-based superconductors. While chemical doping or hydrostatic pressure can change the local geometry, these conventional approaches do not provide a clear pathway in tuning the detailed atomic arrangement predictably, due to the parent compounds complicated structural deformation in the presence of the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition. Here, we demonstrate a systematic approach to manipulate the local structural configurations in BaFe2As2 epitaxial thin fil…
We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to study the electronic properties of CaFe2As2 - parent compound of a pnictide superconductor. We find that the structural and magnetic transition is accompanied by a three- to two-dimensional (3D-2D) crossover in the electronic structure. Above the transition temperature (Ts) Fermi surfaces around Gamma and X points are cylindrical and quasi-2D. Below Ts the former becomes a 3D ellipsoid, while the latter remains quasi-2D. This finding strongly suggests that low dimensionality plays an important role in understanding the superconducting…
The impurity-induced quasiparticle interference(QPI) in the parent compounds of iron-pnictide superconductors is investigated based on a phenomenological two-orbital four-band model and T-matrix method. We find the QPI is sensitive to the value of the magnetic order which may vary from one compound to another. For small value of the magnetic order, the pattern of oscillation in the local density of states (LDOS) induced by the QPI exhibits two-dimensional characteristics, consistent with the standing wave state observed in the 1111 compound. For larger value of the magnetic order, the main fea…
Insight into the electronic structure of the pnictide family of superconductors is obtained from quantum oscillation measurements. Here we review experimental quantum oscillation data that reveal a transformation from large quasi-two dimensional electron and hole cylinders in the paramagnetic overdoped members of the pnictide family to significantly smaller three-dimensional Fermi surface sections in the antiferromagnetic parent members, via a potential quantum critical point at which an effective mass enhancement is observed. Similarities with the Fermi surface evolution from the overdoped to…
High-temperature (high-$T_{\rm c}$) superconductivity appears as a consequence of the carrier-doping of an undoped parent compound exhibiting antiferromagnetic order; thereby, ground-state properties of the parent compound are closely relevant to the superconducting state. On the basis of the concept, a spin-fluctuation has been addressed as an origin of pairing of the superconducting electrons in cuprates. Whereas, there is growing interest in the pairing mechanism such as an unconventional spin-fluctuation or an advanced orbital-fluctuation due to the characteristic multi-orbital system in i…
I describe the issues of the competing orders in normal state of a parent and Ni-doped iron pnictide superconductor, SrF e 2 As 2 , using LMTO band structure calculation plus multi orbital dynamical mean-field theory. Strong, electronic correlations along with minimal antiferromagnetic instability create a partially gapped Fermi surface, in qualitative agreement with earlier experiments. A good semiquantitative similarity in both normal and ordered state with the earlier experimental transport data is observed along with suppression of magnetic ordering and explained within a correlated, mul- …
We present scanning tunneling microscopy studies of the LaOFeAs parent compound of iron pnictide superconductors. Topographic imaging reveals two types of atomically flat surfaces, corresponding to the exposed LaO layer and FeAs layer respectively. On one type of surface, we observe strong standing wave patterns induced by quasiparticle interference of two-dimensional surface states. The distribution of scattering wavevectors exhibits pronounced two-fold symmetry, consistent with the nematic electronic structure found in the Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2 parent state.
A number of recent experiments exhibit electronic anisotropy in the iron pnictides, and there is a growing body of experimental evidence that its origin is related to orbital ordering in Fe d_{xz} and d_{yz} orbitals. We examine this problem in the parent compounds of the iron pnictides by a combination of ab initio band theory calculations, phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory of coupled orbital and magnetic order parameters, and a microscopic mean-field study of the Kugel-Khomskii model. We find that orbital ordering is sufficient to explain a number of key experimental observations, in p…
Although the parent iron-based pnictides and chalcogenides are itinerant antiferromagnets, the use of local moment picture to understand their magnetic properties is still widespread. We study magnetic Raman scattering from a local moment perspective for various quantum spin models proposed for this new class of superconductors. These models vary greatly in the level of magnetic frustration and show a vastly different two-magnon Raman response. Light scattering by two-magnon excitations thus provides a robust and independent measure of the underlying spin interactions. In accord with other rec…
We consider the iron pnictides in terms of a proximity to a Mott insulator. The superexchange interactions contain competing nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor components. In the undoped parent compound, these frustrated interactions lead to a two-sublattice collinear antiferromagnet (each sublattice forming a Neel ordering), with a reduced magnitude for the ordered moment. Electron or hole doping, together with the frustration effect, suppresses the magnetic ordering and allows a superconducting state. The exchange interactions favor a d-wave superconducting order parameter; in the no…
We measured dispersive spin excitations in $\mathrm{SmFeAsO}$, parent compound of $\mathrm{SmFeAsO_{\text{1-x}}F_{\text{x}}}$ one of the highest temperature superconductors of Fe pnictides (T$_{\text{C}}\approx$55~K). We determine the magnetic excitations to disperse with a bandwidth energy of ca 170 meV at (0.47, 0) and (0.34, 0.34), which merges into the elastic line approaching the $Γ$ point. Comparing our results with other parent Fe pnictides, we show the importance of structural parameters for the magnetic excitation spectrum, with small modifications of the tetrahedron angles and As hei…
We investigate the origin of exoticity in Fe-based systems via studying the Fermiology of CaFe2As2 employing Angle Resolved Photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). While the Fermi surfaces (FSs) at 200 K and 31 K are observed to exhibit two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) topology, respectively, the FSs at intermediate temperatures reveal emergence of the 3D topology at much lower temperature than the structural & magnetic phase transition temperature (170 K, for the sample under scrutiny). This leads to the conclusion that the evolution of FS topology is not directly driven by the str…
The one-particle spectral function and its orbital composition are investigated in a three-orbital model for the undoped parent compounds of the iron-based superconductors. In the realistic parameter regime, where results best fit experimental data, it is observed that the magnetization in the xz and yz orbitals are markedly different and the Fermi surface presents mostly xz character, as recently observed in photoemission experiments [T. Shimojima et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 057002 (2010)]. Since the ferro-orbital order in this regime is at most a few percent, these results are mainly drive…
We have performed an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of the undoped and electron-doped iron pnictides BaFe2\_{-x}CoxAs2 (Ba122) (x=0, 0.14) and studied the Fermi surfaces (FSs) and band dispersions near the Fermi level. The FS sheets we observed are consistent with the shrinkage of the hole-like pockets around the Brillouin Zone (BZ) center and the expansion of the electron pockets around the BZ corner in the electron-doped compound as compared to the undoped parent compound. Band dispersions and FSs around the BZ center strongly depend on the photon energy, indicating …
One of the major puzzles regarding unconventional superconductivity is how some of the most interesting superconductors are related to an insulating phase that lies in close proximity. Here we report scanning tunneling microscopy studies of the local electronic structure of Cu doped NaFeAs across the superconductor to insulator transition. We find that in the highly insulating regime the electronic spectrum develops an energy gap with diminishing density of state at the Fermi level. The overall lineshape and strong spatial variations of the spectra are strikingly similar to that of lightly dop…
The present article reviews recent experimental investigations of spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors and their parent compounds by means of inelastic neutron scattering. It mainly focuses on the most contemporary developments in this field, pertaining to the observations of magnetic resonant modes in new superconductors, spin anisotropy of low-energy magnetic fluctuations that has now been observed in a wide range of chemical compositions and doping levels, as well as their momentum-space anisotropy incurred by the spin-nematic order. The implications of these new findings for our und…
Superconductivity in a novel class of layered materials, Ti-based pnictide oxides, was recently discovered. These compounds have attracted interest since they combine features of copper oxide and iron pnictide superconductors. Here the transition metal (titanium) forms two-dimensional Ti$_2$O layers (anti structure to the CuO$_2$ planes), capped by pnictogen ions (similar to Fe$_2$As$_2$ layers). The pnictide oxide compounds show a spin or charge density wave phase which coexists with superconductivity in some members of the family. Unlike the cuprates, but similar to iron pnictides, the paren…
A U(1) slave-spin representation is introduced for multi-orbital Hubbard models. As with the $Z_2$ form of L. de'Medici et al. (Phys. Rev. B 72, 205124 (2005)), this approach represents a physical electron operator as the product of a slave spin and an auxiliary fermion operator. For non-degenerate multi-orbital models, our U(1) approach is advantageous in that it captures the non-interacting limit at the mean-field level. For systems with either a single orbital or degenerate multiple orbitals, the U(1) and $Z_2$ slave-spin approachs yield the same results in the slave-spin-condensed phase. I…
A mechanism for electronic phase separation in iron pnictides is proposed. It is based on the competition between commensurate and incommensurate spin-density-wave phases in a system with an imperfect doping-dependent nesting of a multi-sheeted Fermi surface. We model the Fermi surface by two elliptical electron pockets and three circular hole pockets. The interaction between a charge carrier in a hole band and a carrier in an electron band leads to the formation of spin-density-wave order. The commensurate spin density wave in the parent compound transforms to the incommensurate phase when do…
The results of neutron scattering and angle-resolved photoemission experiments for the Fe-pnictide parent compounds, and their metallic nature, are shown to impose severe constraints on the range of values that can be considered "realistic" for the intraorbital Hubbard repulsion U and Hund coupling J in multiorbital Hubbard models treated in the mean-field approximation. Phase diagrams for three- and five-orbital models are here provided, and the physically realistic regime of couplings is highlighted, to guide future theoretical work into the proper region of parameters of Hubbard models. In …
The degree of electron correlations remains a central issue in the iron-based superconductors. The parent iron pnictides are antiferromagnetic, and their bad-metal behavior has been interpreted in terms of proximity to a Mott transition. We study such a transition in multi-orbital models on modulated lattices containing an ordered pattern of iron vacancies, using a slave-rotor method. We show that the ordered vacancies lead to a band-narrowing, which pushes the system to the Mott insulator side. This effect is proposed to underlie the insulating behavior observed in the parent compounds of the…
Multi-orbital Hubbard model Hamiltonians for the undoped parent compounds of the Fe-pnictide superconductors are here investigated using mean-field techniques. For a realistic four-orbital model, our results show the existence of an intermediate Hubbard U coupling regime where the mean-field ground state has spin stripe magnetic order, as in neutron scattering experiments, while remaining metallic, due to the phenomenon of band overlaps. The angle-resolved photoemission intensity and Fermi surface of this magnetic and metallic state are discussed. Other models are also investigated, including …
Iron-based superconductors Ba0.7Rb0.3Fe2As2 and CaFe1.92Co0.08As2 of the '122' family have been investigated by means of the 14.41-keV Moessbauer transition in 57Fe versus temperature ranging from the room temperature till 4.2 K. A comparison is made with the previously investigated parent compounds BaFe2As2 and CaFe2As2. It has been found that Moessbauer spectra of these superconductors are composed of the magnetically split component due to development of spin density wave (SDW) and non-magnetic component surviving even at lowest temperatures. The latter component is responsible for supercon…
We report on orbital-dependent quasiparticle dynamics in EuFe$_2$As$_2$, a parent compound of Fe-based superconductors and a novel way to experimentally identify this behavior, using time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy across the spin density wave transition. We observe two different relaxation time scales for photo-excited d$_x$$_z$/d$_y$$_z$ and d$_x$$_y$ electrons. While d$_x$$_z$/d$_y$$_z$ electrons relax faster through the electron-electron scattering channel, showing an itinerant character, d$_x$$_y$ electrons form a quasi-equilibrium state with the lattice due to their l…
One of the central questions about the iron pnictides concerns the extent to which their electrons are strongly correlated. Here we address this issue through the phenomenology of the charge transport and dynamics, single-electron excitation spectrum, and magnetic ordering and dynamics. We outline the evidence that the parent compounds, while metallic, have electron interactions that are sufficiently strong to produce incipient Mott physics. In other words, in terms of the strength of electron correlations compared to the kinetic energy, the iron pnictides are closer to intermediately-coupled …
We performed an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of BaMn$_2$As$_2$ and BaMn$_2$Sb$_2$, which are isostructural to the parent compound BaFe$_2$As$_2$ of the 122 family of ferropnictide superconductors. We show the existence of a strongly $k_z$-dependent band gap with a minimum at the Brillouin zone center, in agreement with their semiconducting properties. Despite the half-filling of the electronic 3$d$ shell, we show that the band structure in these materials is almost not renormalized from the Kohn-Sham bands of density functional theory. Our photon energy dependent study provi…
Undoped iron superconductors accommodate $n=6$ electrons in five d-orbitals. Experimental and theoretical evidence shows that the strength of correlations increases with hole-doping, as the electronic filling approaches half-filling with $n=5$ electrons. This evidence delineates a scenario in which the parent compound of iron superconductors is the half-filled system, in analogy to cuprate superconductors. In cuprates the superconductivity can be induced upon electron or hole doping. In this work we propose to search for high-Tc superconductivity and strong correlations in chromium pnictides a…
We show that previously measured small Fermi surface pockets within the antiferromagnetic phase of SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 are consistent with a Dirac dispersion modulated by interlayer hopping, giving rise to a Dirac point in k-space and a cusp in the magnetic field angle-dependent magnetic quantum oscillation frequencies. These findings support the existence of a nodal spin-density wave in these materials, which could play an important role in protecting the metallic state against localization effects. The speed of the Dirac fermions in SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 is found to be 14-20 times slower t…
We examine the appearance of the experimentally-observed stripe spin-density-wave magnetic order in five different orbital models of the iron pnictide parent compounds. A restricted mean-field ansatz is used to determine the magnetic phase diagram of each model. Using the random phase approximation, we then check this phase diagram by evaluating the static spin susceptibility in the paramagnetic state close to the mean-field phase boundaries. The momenta for which the susceptibility is peaked indicate in an unbiased way the actual ordering vector of the nearby mean-field state. The dominant or…
A new layered Ti-based pnictide oxide superconductor, Ba1-xNaxTi2Sb2O (0.0 <= x <= 0.33), is reported. X-ray studies reveal it crystallizes in the tetragonal CeCr2Si2C structure. The undoped parent compound, BaTi2Sb2O (P4/mmm; a=4.1196(1)Å; c=8.0951(2)Å), exhibits a CDW/SDW transition at 54K. Upon chemical doping with Na, the CDW/SDW transition is systematically suppressed and super-conductivity arises with the critical temperatures, Tc, increasing to 5.5 K. Bulk superconductivity is confirmed by resistivity, magnetic and heat capacity measurements. Like the high-Tc cuprates and the iron pnict…
By means of first-principles calculations, the electronic structure and chemical bonding for the recently discovered tetragonal (s.g. P4/n; # 85) superconducting (Tc ~ 25K) phase Ca10(Pt4As8)(Fe2As2)5 have been examined in details, and the optimized structural parameters, electronic bands, densities of states, and inter-atomic bonding picture were evaluated and analyzed in comparison with related layered iron-based superconducting materials. We have shown that (i) Ca10(Pt4As8)(Fe2As2)5 is metallic-like, and the electronic bands in the window around the Fermi level are formed mainly by the Fe 3…
Motivated by the premise that superconductivity in iron-based superconductors is unconventional and mediated by spin fluctuations, an intense research effort has been focused on characterizing the spin excitation spectrum in the magnetically ordered parent phases of the Fe-pnictides2,3 and - chalcogenides4. For these undoped materials it is well-established that the spin excitation spectrum consists of a sharp, highly dispersive magnon spanning an energy range of up to 200 meV (ref. 3). The fate of these high-energy magnetic modes upon sizable doping is hitherto unresolved. Using resonant inel…
The magnetic moment in the parent phase of the iron-pnictide superconductors varies with composition even when the nominal charge of iron is unchanged. We propose the spin-lattice coupling due to the magneto-volume effect as the primary origin of this effect, and formulate a Landau theory to describe the dependence of the moment to the Fe-As layer separation. We then compare the superconductive critical temperature of doped iron pnictides to the local moment predicted by the theory, and suggest that the spin-phonon coupling may play a role in the superconductivity of this compound.
In the studies of iron-pnictides, a key question is whether their bad-metal state from which the superconductivity emerges lies in close proximity with a magnetically ordered insulating phase. Recently it was found that at low temperatures, the heavily Cu-doped NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As ($x > 0.3$) iron-pnictide is an insulator with long-range antiferromagnetic order, similar to the parent compound of cuprates but distinct from all other iron-pnictides. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we determined the momentum-resolved electronic structure of NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As ($x = 0.44$) and …
We examine the appearance of a spin density wave in the FeAs parent compounds due to an excitonic instability. Using a realistic four-band model, we show that the magnetic state depends very sensitively upon the details of the band structure. We demonstrate that an orthorhombic distortion of the crystal enhances the stability of the antiferromagnetic order.
The recent discovery of superconductivity in the iron-based layered pnictides with T_c ranging between 26 and 56K generated enormous interest in the physics of these materials. Here, we review some of the peculiarities of the antiferromagnetic order in the iron pnictides, including the selection of the stripe magnetic order and the formation of the Ising-nematic state in the unfolded BZ within an itinerant description. In addition we analyze the properties of the quasiparticle interference spectrum in the parent antiferromagnetic phase.
Elucidating the nature of the magnetism of a high-temperature superconductor is crucial for establishing its pairing mechanism. The parent compounds of the cuprate and iron-pnictide superconductors exhibit Néel and stripe magnetic order, respectively. However, FeSe, the structurally simplest iron-based superconductor, shows nematic order (Ts = 90 K), but not magnetic order in the parent phase, and its magnetic ground state is intensely debated. Here, we report inelastic neutron-scattering experiments that reveal both stripe and Néel spin fluctuations over a wide energy range at 110 K. On enter…
We present Monte Carlo simulations for a classical antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with both nearest ($J_1$) and next-nearest ($J_2$) exchange couplings on the square lattice in the presence of non-magnetic impurities. We show that the order-by-disorder entropy selection, associated with the Ising-like phase transition that appears for $J_2/J_1>1/2$ in the pure spin model, is quenched at low temperature due to the presence of non-magnetic impurities. Evidences that a new competing order is stabilized around the impurities, and in turn induces a re-entrance phase transition are reported. Imp…
It is well established that the occurrence of superconductivity in iron pnictides is closely related to the tetragonal to orthorhombic structural and antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transitions. It, however, has not been clear whether the same scenario is appropriate for iron chalcogenide counterparts due to the absence of parent compounds for the latter family of superconductors. Here, we report the synthesis and structure determination of two novel phases in ethylenediamine intercalated FeSe, one is tetragonal and the other orthorhombic in room temperature, which can be stabilized with neutral…
