Local Orthorhombicity in the Magnetic C4 Phase of the Hole-Doped Iron-Arsenide Superconductor Sr1xNaxFe2As2

Benjamin A. Frandsen, Keith M. Taddei, Ming Yi, Alex Frano, Zurab Guguchia, Rong Yu, Qimiao Si, Daniel E. Bugaris, Ryan Stadel, Raymond Osborn, Stephan Rosenkranz, Omar Chmaissem, and Robert J. Birgeneau
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 187001 – Published 30 October 2017
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Abstract

We report on temperature-dependent pair distribution function measurements of Sr1xNaxFe2As2, an iron-based superconductor system that contains a magnetic phase with reentrant tetragonal symmetry, known as the magnetic C4 phase. Quantitative refinements indicate that the instantaneous local structure in the C4 phase comprises fluctuating orthorhombic regions with a length scale of 2nm, despite the tetragonal symmetry of the average static structure. Additionally, local orthorhombic fluctuations exist on a similar length scale at temperatures well into the paramagnetic tetragonal phase. These results highlight the exceptionally large nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors and have significant implications for the magnetic C4 phase and the neighboring C2 and superconducting phases.

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  • Received 9 June 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.187001

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Benjamin A. Frandsen1,2, Keith M. Taddei3, Ming Yi2, Alex Frano2,4,*, Zurab Guguchia5, Rong Yu6,7, Qimiao Si8, Daniel E. Bugaris9, Ryan Stadel10,9, Raymond Osborn9, Stephan Rosenkranz9, Omar Chmaissem10,9, and Robert J. Birgeneau1,2,11

  • 1Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 3Quantum Condensed Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
  • 4Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 5Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 6Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
  • 7Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 8Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 9Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 10Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 11Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

  • *Present address: Department of Physics, University of California–San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 18 — 3 November 2017

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