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Title: Spin dynamics in NaFeAs and NaFe0.53Cu0.47As probed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [8];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)
  2. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
  3. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
  4. Beijing Normal Univ. (China); Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
  5. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  6. Northwestern Polytechnical Univ., Xian (China)
  7. Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing (China)
  8. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

The parent compounds of iron-based superconductors are magnetically ordered bad metals, with superconductivity appearing near a putative magnetic quantum critical point. The presence of both Hubbard repulsion and Hund’s coupling leads to rich physics in these multiorbital systems, and motivated descriptions of magnetism in terms of itinerant electrons or localized spins. The NaFe1–xCuxAs series consists of magnetically ordered bad metal (x = 0), superconducting (x ≈ 0.02) and magnetically ordered semiconducing/insulating (x ≈ 0.5) phases, providing a platform to investigate the connection between superconductivity, magnetism and electronic correlations. Here we use x-ray absorption spectroscopy and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to study the valence state of Fe and spin dynamics in two NaFe1–xCuxAs compounds (x = 0 and 0.47). We find that magnetism in both compounds arises from Fe2+ atoms, and exhibits underdamped dispersive spin waves in their respective ordered states. The dispersion of spin excitations in NaFe0.53Cu0.47As is consistent with being quasi-one-dimensional. Compared to NaFeAs, the band top of spin waves in NaFe0.53Cu0.47As is slightly softened with significantly more spectral weight of the spin excitations. Here, our results indicate the spin dynamics in NaFe0.53Cu0.47As arise from localized magnetic moments and suggest the iron-based superconductors are proximate to a correlated insulating state with localized iron moments.

Research Organization:
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Robert A. Welch Foundation; SNSF Research; National Science Foundation of China; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Univ. and the Research Funds of Remnin Univ. of China
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012311; C-1839; AC02-05CH11231; 200021L 141325; 11374361; 11674392; 18XNLG24
OSTI ID:
1773810
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1877038
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 103, Issue 7; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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