Within the Landau paradigm of continuous phase transitions, ordered states of matter are characterized by a broken symmetry. Although the broken symmetry is usually evident, determining the driving force behind the phase transition is often a more subtle matter due to coupling between otherwise distinct order parameters. In this paper we show how measurement of the divergent nematic susceptibility of an iron pnictide superconductor unambiguously distinguishes an electronic nematic phase transition from a simple ferroelastic distortion. These measurements also reveal an electronic nematic quantum phase transition at the composition with optimal superconducting transition temperature.
Electronic Nematicity Revealed by Torque Magnetometry in Iron Arsenide EuFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$
电子向列相是一种电子取向的有序性，它打破了铁磷属元素化物超导体的旋转对称性。然而，这一阶段的掺杂依赖性的普遍性和它的关系，其他的破缺订单（如超导）在不同的家庭的铁pnictides，仍然是悬而未决的问题。本文用转矩磁法研究了EuFe $_2$（As $_{1-x}$ P $_x$）$_2$在不引入外压的情况下的转动对称破缺。发现在最佳掺杂下，超导相在结构转变上方增殖并持续进入超导状态，之后它变得不存在或非常弱，与BaFe $_2$（As $_{1-x}$ P $_x$）$_2$中观察到的行为形成鲜明对比。这些测量结果表明，在超导圆顶下，接近最佳掺杂的假定量子跃迁。
A novel feature of the iron arsenides is the magnetoelastic coupling between the long wavelength in-plane strains of the lattice and the collective spin fluctuations of the electrons near the magnetic ordering wavevectors. Here, we study its microscopic origin from an electronic model with nested Fermi pockets and a nominal interaction. We find the couplings diverge with a power-law as the system is tuned to perfect nesting. Furthermore, the theory reveals how nematicity is boosted by nesting. These results are relevant for other systems with nesting driven density wave transitions.
Superconductivity is a quantum phenomenon caused by bound pairs of electrons. In diverse families of strongly correlated electron systems, the electron pairs are not bound together by phonon exchange but instead by some other kind of bosonic fluctuations. In these systems, superconductivity is often found near a magnetic quantum critical point (QCP) where a magnetic phase vanishes in the zero-temperature limit. Moreover, the maximum of superconducting transition temperature Tc frequently locates near the magnetic QCP, suggesting that the proliferation of critical spin fluctuations emanating fr…
Electron correlations produce a rich phase diagram in the iron pnictides. Earlier theoretical studies on the correlation effect demonstrated how quantum fluctuations weaken and concurrently suppress a $C_2$-symmetric single-Q antiferromagnetic order and a nematic order. Here we examine the emergent phases near the quantum phase transition. For a $C_4$-symmetric collinear double-Q antiferromagnetic order, we show that it is accompanied by both a charge order and an enhanced nematic susceptibility. Our results provide understanding for several intriguing recent experiments in hole-doped iron ars…
The extent to which quantum criticality drives the physics of iron pnictides is a central question in the field. Earlier theoretical considerations were based on an effective field theory, and the proposed realization in P-doped iron arsenides has received extensive experimental evidence. To connect the quantum critical behavior with the underlying electronic physics, it is important to analyze it within microscopic models. Here, we do so for a multi-orbital model containing both Hubbard and Hund's interactions, by a variational Monte Carlo method based on Jastrow-Slater wave functions that al…
Raman scattering as a probe of charge nematic fluctuations in iron based superconductors
本文报道了BaFe $_2$ As $_2$和Sr（Fe $_{1-x}$ Co $_x$）$_2$ As $_2$（x=0.04）单晶四元相中电荷涨落的拉曼散射测量。在这两个系统中，所观察到的居里-外斯波动被发现表现出发散的居里-外斯行为与非常相似的特征温度标度，表明在122铁基超导体的普遍趋势，对电荷的有序。
Elucidating the microscopic origin of nematic order in iron-based superconducting materials is important because the interactions that drive nematic order may also mediate the Cooper pairing. Nematic order breaks fourfold rotational symmetry in the iron plane, which is believed to be driven by either orbital or spin degrees of freedom. However, as the nematic phase often develops at a temperature just above or coincides with a stripe magnetic phase transition, experimentally determining the dominant driving force of nematic order is difficult. Here, we use neutron scattering to study structura…
We report temperature-dependent pair distribution function measurements of Sr$_{1-x}$Na$_{x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$, an iron-based superconductor system that contains a magnetic phase with reentrant tetragonal symmetry, known as the magnetic $C_4$ phase. Quantitative refinements indicate that the instantaneous local structure in the $C_4$ phase is comprised of fluctuating orthorhombic regions with a length scale of $\sim$2 nm, despite the tetragonal symmetry of the average static structure. Additionally, local orthorhombic fluctuations exist on a similar length scale at temperatures well into the parama…
Nematic-fluctuation-mediated superconductivity in CuxTiSe2
Renmin University of China（中国人民大学）；Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research（高压科学和技术先进研究中心）；Anhui University（安徽大学）；Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications（北京邮电大学）
研究发现Cu x TiSe 2中易位波动与超导性之间的相互作用，揭示易位相变对超导性增强的作用机制。
Isoelectronic substitution is an ideal tuning parameter to alter electronic states and correlations in iron-based superconductors. As this substitution takes place outside the conducting Fe planes, the electronic behaviour is less affected by the impurity scattering experimentally and relevant key electronic parameters can be accessed. In this short review, I present the experimental progress made in understanding the electronic behaviour of the nematic electronic superconductors, FeSe1-xSx. A direct signature of the nematic electronic state is in-plane anisotropic distortion of the Fermi surf…
Nematicity in the heavily hole-doped iron pnictide superconductors remains controversial. Sizeable nematic fluctuations and even nematic orders far from a magnetic instability were declared in RbFe$_2$As$_2$ and its sister compounds. Here we report a systematic elastoresistance study of series of isovalent- and electron-doped KFe$_2$As$_2$ crystals. We found divergent elastoresistance upon cooling for all the crystals along their [110] direction. The amplitude of elastoresistivity diverges if K is substituted with larger ions or if the system is driven towards a Lifshitz transition. However, w…
The role of nematic order for the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity is highly debated. In most iron-based superconductors (IBS) the tetragonal symmetry is broken already in the normal state, resulting in orthorhombic lattice distortions, static stripe magnetic order, or both. Superconductivity then emerges, at least at weak doping, already from the state with broken $C_4$ rotational symmetry. One of the few stoichiometric IBS, lithium iron arsenide, superconducts below 18 K and does not display either structural or magnetic transition in the normal state. Here we demonstrate, usi…
Unveiling the driving force for a phase transition is normally difficult when multiple degrees of freedom are strongly coupled. One example is the nematic phase transition in iron-based superconductors. Its mechanism remains controversial due to a complex intertwining among different degrees of freedom. In this paper, we report a method for measuring the nematic susceptibly of FeSe$_{0.9}$S$_{0.1}$ using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and an $in$-$situ$ strain-tuning device. The nematic susceptibility is characterized as an energy shift of band induced by a tunable uniaxial …
Recent experiments in optimally hole-doped iron arsenides have revealed a novel magnetically ordered ground state that preserves tetragonal symmetry, consistent with either a charge-spin density wave (CSDW), which displays a non-uniform magnetization, or a spin-vortex crystal (SVC), which displays a non-collinear magnetization. Here we show that, similarly to the partial melting of the usual stripe antiferromagnet into a nematic phase, either of these phases can also melt in two stages. As a result, intermediate paramagnetic phases with vestigial order appears: a checkerboard charge density-wa…
An anapole state that breaks inversion and time reversal symmetries with preserving translation symmetry of underlying lattice has aroused great interest as a new quantum state, but only a few candidate materials have been reported. Recently, in a spin-orbit coupled Mott insulator \SIR, the emergence of a possible hidden order phase with broken inversion symmetry has been suggested at $T_Ω$ above the Néel temperature by optical second harmonic generation measurements. Moreover, polarized neutron diffraction measurements revealed the broken time reversal symmetry below $T_Ω$, which was supporte…
