DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1-xNixAs

Abstract

Understanding the interplay between nematicity, magnetism and superconductivity is pivotal for elucidating the physics of iron-based superconductors. Here we use neutron scattering to probe magnetic and nematic orders throughout the phase diagram of NaFe1-xNixAs, finding that while both static antiferromagnetic and nematic orders compete with superconductivity, the onset temperatures for these two orders remain well separated approaching the putative quantum critical points. We uncover local orthorhombic distortions that persist well above the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition temperature Ts in underdoped samples and extend well into the overdoped regime that exhibits neither magnetic nor structural phase transitions. These unexpected local orthorhombic distortions display Curie–Weiss temperature dependence and become suppressed below the superconducting transition temperature Tc, suggesting that they result from the large nematic susceptibility near optimal superconductivity. Finally, our results account for observations of rotational symmetry breaking above Ts, and attest to the presence of significant nematic fluctuations near optimal superconductivity.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Northwestern Polytechnical Univ., Xian (China). Dept. of Applied Physics
  3. Max-Planck-Inst. fur Festkorperforschung, Stuttgart (Germany); Max Planck Society Outstation at the Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (MLZ), Garching (Germany)
  4. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division
  6. Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing (China). Dept. of Physics and Beijing Key Lab. of Opto-electronic Functional Materials and Micro-nano Devices
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1463970
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; SC0012311; C-1839; C-1818; DMR-1350237
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Wang, Weiyi, Song, Yu, Cao, Chongde, Tseng, Kuo-Feng, Keller, Thomas, Li, Yu, Harriger, L. W., Tian, Wei, Chi, Songxue, Yu, Rong, Nevidomskyy, Andriy H., and Dai, Pengcheng. Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1-xNixAs. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05529-2.
Wang, Weiyi, Song, Yu, Cao, Chongde, Tseng, Kuo-Feng, Keller, Thomas, Li, Yu, Harriger, L. W., Tian, Wei, Chi, Songxue, Yu, Rong, Nevidomskyy, Andriy H., & Dai, Pengcheng. Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1-xNixAs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05529-2
Wang, Weiyi, Song, Yu, Cao, Chongde, Tseng, Kuo-Feng, Keller, Thomas, Li, Yu, Harriger, L. W., Tian, Wei, Chi, Songxue, Yu, Rong, Nevidomskyy, Andriy H., and Dai, Pengcheng. Tue . "Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1-xNixAs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05529-2. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1463970.
@article{osti_1463970,
title = {Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1-xNixAs},
author = {Wang, Weiyi and Song, Yu and Cao, Chongde and Tseng, Kuo-Feng and Keller, Thomas and Li, Yu and Harriger, L. W. and Tian, Wei and Chi, Songxue and Yu, Rong and Nevidomskyy, Andriy H. and Dai, Pengcheng},
abstractNote = {Understanding the interplay between nematicity, magnetism and superconductivity is pivotal for elucidating the physics of iron-based superconductors. Here we use neutron scattering to probe magnetic and nematic orders throughout the phase diagram of NaFe1-xNixAs, finding that while both static antiferromagnetic and nematic orders compete with superconductivity, the onset temperatures for these two orders remain well separated approaching the putative quantum critical points. We uncover local orthorhombic distortions that persist well above the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition temperature Ts in underdoped samples and extend well into the overdoped regime that exhibits neither magnetic nor structural phase transitions. These unexpected local orthorhombic distortions display Curie–Weiss temperature dependence and become suppressed below the superconducting transition temperature Tc, suggesting that they result from the large nematic susceptibility near optimal superconductivity. Finally, our results account for observations of rotational symmetry breaking above Ts, and attest to the presence of significant nematic fluctuations near optimal superconductivity.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-05529-2},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Electronic nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors
journal, January 2016


Direct visualization of phase separation between superconducting and nematic domains in Co-doped CaFe 2 As 2 close to a first-order phase transition
journal, January 2018


Phase diagram and physical properties of NaFe 1 x Cu x As single crystals
journal, September 2013


Incommensurate Spin-Density Wave Order in Electron-Doped BaFe 2 As 2 Superconductors
journal, June 2011


Impact of uniaxial pressure on structural and magnetic phase transitions in electron-doped iron pnictides
journal, April 2016


Elastic coupling and spin-driven nematicity in iron-based superconductors
journal, February 2016


Coexistence of Cluster Spin Glass and Superconductivity in Ba ( Fe 1 x Co x ) 2 As 2 for 0.060 x 0.071
journal, November 2013


Cooper pairing in non-Fermi liquids
journal, March 2015


Electron doping evolution of structural and antiferromagnetic phase transitions in NaFe 1 x Co x As iron pnictides
journal, July 2016


Ferro-Orbital Order and Strong Magnetic Anisotropy in the Parent Compounds of Iron-Pnictide Superconductors
journal, December 2009


Static and Dynamic Magnetism in Underdoped Superconductor BaFe 1.92 Co 0.08 As 2
journal, August 2009


Energy dependence of the spin excitation anisotropy in uniaxial-strained BaFe 1.9 Ni 0.1 As 2
journal, November 2015


Electron doping evolution of the neutron spin resonance in NaFe 1 x Co x As
journal, May 2016


Orbital nematic order and interplay with magnetism in the two-orbital Hubbard model
journal, May 2015


Divergent Nematic Susceptibility in an Iron Arsenide Superconductor
journal, August 2012


Nematic Crossover in BaFe 2 As 2 under Uniaxial Stress
journal, November 2015


Charge Melting and Polaron Collapse in La 1.2 Sr 1.8 Mn 2 O 7
journal, November 1999


Local Orthorhombicity in the Magnetic C 4 Phase of the Hole-Doped Iron-Arsenide Superconductor Sr 1 x Na x Fe 2 As 2
journal, October 2017


Measurement of the elastoresistivity coefficients of the underdoped iron arsenide Ba(Fe 0.975 Co 0.025 ) 2 As 2
journal, August 2013


Superconductivity in iron compounds
journal, December 2011


Imaging Anomalous Nematic Order and Strain in Optimally Doped BaFe 2 ( As , P ) 2
journal, July 2018


Structural and Magnetic Phase Transitions near Optimal Superconductivity in BaFe 2 ( As 1 x P x ) 2
journal, April 2015


Anomalous Suppression of the Orthorhombic Lattice Distortion in Superconducting Ba ( Fe 1 x Co x ) 2 As 2 Single Crystals
journal, February 2010


Ubiquitous signatures of nematic quantum criticality in optimally doped Fe-based superconductors
journal, May 2016


Character of the structural and magnetic phase transitions in the parent and electron-doped BaFe 2 As 2 compounds
journal, April 2011


Orbital-anisotropic electronic structure in the nonmagnetic state of BaFe2(As1−xP x )2 superconductors
journal, February 2018


Superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid behavior near a nematic quantum critical point
journal, April 2017

  • Lederer, Samuel; Schattner, Yoni; Berg, Erez
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 19
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620651114

Antiferromagnetic order and spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors
journal, August 2015


Structural Quantum Criticality and Superconductivity in Iron-Based Superconductor Ba(Fe 1- x Co x ) 2 As 2
journal, February 2012

  • Yoshizawa, Masahito; Kimura, Daichi; Chiba, Taiji
  • Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 81, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.81.024604

Avoided Quantum Criticality and Magnetoelastic Coupling in BaFe 2 x Ni x As 2
journal, June 2013


Short-Range Polaron Correlations in the Ferromagnetic La 1 x Ca x MnO 3
journal, September 2000


Disentangling superconducting and magnetic orders in NaFe 1 x Ni x As using muon spin rotation
journal, June 2018


Enhancement of Superconductivity near a Nematic Quantum Critical Point
journal, March 2015


Anisotropic In-Plane Resistivity in the Nematic Phase of the Iron Pnictides
journal, November 2011


Larmor diffraction measurement of the temperature dependence of lattice constants in CuGeO3
journal, June 2011


Pairing interaction near a nematic quantum critical point of a three-band CuO 2 model
journal, November 2014


Structural and magnetic phase transitions in Na 1 δ FeAs
journal, July 2009


Orbital order and spin nematicity in the tetragonal phase of the electron-doped iron pnictides NaFe 1 x Co x As
journal, February 2016


Orbital ordering induces structural phase transition and the resistivity anomaly in iron pnictides
journal, December 2009


Unconventional pairing in the iron arsenide superconductors
journal, April 2010


Electronic nematicity above the structural and superconducting transition in BaFe2(As1−xP x )2
journal, June 2012

  • Kasahara, S.; Shi, H. J.; Hashimoto, K.
  • Nature, Vol. 486, Issue 7403
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature11178

What drives nematic order in iron-based superconductors?
journal, January 2014

  • Fernandes, R. M.; Chubukov, A. V.; Schmalian, J.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2877

High-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides and chalcogenides
journal, March 2016


Spin-orbital frustrations and anomalous metallic state in iron-pnictide superconductors
journal, February 2009


Theory of electron nematic order in LaFeAsO
journal, June 2008


In-Plane Resistivity Anisotropy in an Underdoped Iron Arsenide Superconductor
journal, August 2010


Visualization of electron nematicity and unidirectional antiferroic fluctuations at high temperatures in NaFeAs
journal, February 2014

  • Rosenthal, E. P.; Andrade, E. F.; Arguello, C. J.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2870

A common thread: The pairing interaction for unconventional superconductors
journal, October 2012


Effect of Biaxial Strain on the Phase Transitions of Ca ( Fe 1 x Co x ) 2 As 2
journal, March 2017


Structure, antiferromagnetism and superconductivity of the layered iron arsenide NaFeAs
journal, January 2009

  • Parker, Dinah R.; Pitcher, Michael J.; Baker, Peter J.
  • Chemical Communications, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1039/b818911k

Neutron Larmor diffraction measurement of the lattice-spacing spread of pyrolytic graphite
journal, December 2002

  • Keller, T.; Rekveldt, M. Th.; Habicht, K.
  • Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, Vol. 74, Issue 0
  • DOI: 10.1007/s003390101082

Quantum criticality in electron-doped BaFe2−xNixAs2
journal, August 2013

  • Zhou, R.; Li, Z.; Yang, J.
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 4, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3265

Doping dependence of spin excitations and its correlations with high-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides
journal, December 2013

  • Wang, Meng; Zhang, Chenglin; Lu, Xingye
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 4, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3874

Structure, antiferromagnetism and superconductivity of the layered iron arsenide NaFeAs
text, January 2008


Unconventional pairing in the iron arsenide superconductors
text, January 2009


Anisotropic in-plane resistivity in the nematic phase of the iron pnictides
text, January 2011


Superconductivity in Iron Compounds
text, January 2011


Structural quantum criticality and superconductivity in iron-based superconductor Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2
text, January 2011


Nematic crossover in BaFe$_2$As$_2$ under uniaxial stress
text, January 2015


High Temperature Superconductivity in Iron Pnictides and Chalcogenides
text, January 2016


Short-range polaron correlations in the ferromagnetic La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(3)
text, January 2000


Neutron Larmor diffraction measurement of the lattice-spacing spread of pyrolytic graphite
journal, December 2002

  • Keller, T.; Rekveldt, M. Th.; Habicht, K.
  • Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, Vol. 74, Issue 0
  • DOI: 10.1007/s003390101082

High-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides and chalcogenides
journal, March 2016


Electronic nematicity above the structural and superconducting transition in BaFe2(As1−xP x )2
journal, June 2012

  • Kasahara, S.; Shi, H. J.; Hashimoto, K.
  • Nature, Vol. 486, Issue 7403
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature11178

Doping dependence of spin excitations and its correlations with high-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides
journal, December 2013

  • Wang, Meng; Zhang, Chenglin; Lu, Xingye
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 4, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3874

Visualization of electron nematicity and unidirectional antiferroic fluctuations at high temperatures in NaFeAs
journal, February 2014

  • Rosenthal, E. P.; Andrade, E. F.; Arguello, C. J.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2870

Orbital-anisotropic electronic structure in the nonmagnetic state of BaFe2(As1−xP x )2 superconductors
journal, February 2018


Control of the Competition between a Magnetic Phase and a Superconducting Phase in Cobalt-Doped and Nickel-Doped NaFeAs Using Electron Count
journal, February 2010


Effects of Nematic Fluctuations on the Elastic Properties of Iron Arsenide Superconductors
journal, October 2010


Ising Nematic Quantum Critical Point in a Metal: A Monte Carlo Study
journal, August 2016


Divergent Nematic Susceptibility in an Iron Arsenide Superconductor
journal, August 2012


Ubiquitous signatures of nematic quantum criticality in optimally doped Fe-based superconductors
journal, May 2016


Evidence for an electron nematic phase transition in underdoped iron pnictide superconductors
text, January 2010


Anisotropic in-plane resistivity in the nematic phase of the iron pnictides
text, January 2011


Quantum Criticality in Electron-doped BaFe_{2-x}Ni_xAs_2
text, January 2013


Nematic order in iron superconductors - who is in the driver's seat?
text, January 2013


Enhancement of superconductivity near a nematic quantum critical point
text, January 2014


Orbital Nematic Order and Interplay with Magnetism in the Two-Orbital Hubbard Model
text, January 2014


Electronic nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors
text, January 2015


Works referencing / citing this record:

c-axis pressure-induced antiferromagnetic order in optimally P-doped BaFe2(As0.70P0.30)2 superconductor
journal, September 2018


Quantitative characterization of short-range orthorhombic fluctuations in FeSe through pair distribution function analysis
journal, July 2019


Disorder-induced electronic nematicity
journal, August 2019


Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the ( Sr , Na ) Fe 2 As 2 family of superconductors
journal, November 2018

  • Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Taddei, Keith M.; Bugaris, Daniel E.
  • Physical Review B, Vol. 98, Issue 18
  • DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.98.180505

Disorder-Induced Electronic Nematicity
text, January 2019