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Title: Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the ( Sr , Na ) Fe 2 As 2 family of superconductors

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [7]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  4. Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Here, we report comprehensive pair distribution function measurements of the hole-doped iron-based superconductor system Sr1–xNaxFe2As2. Structural refinements performed as a function of temperature and length scale reveal orthorhombic distortions of the instantaneous local structure across a large region of the phase diagram possessing average tetragonal symmetry, indicative of fluctuating nematicity. These nematic fluctuations are present up to high doping levels (x ≳ 0.48, near optimal superconductivity) and high temperatures (above room temperature for x = 0, decreasing to 150 K for x = 0.48), with a typical length scale of 1–3 nm. This work highlights the ubiquity of nematic fluctuations in a representative iron-based superconductor and provides important details about the evolution of these fluctuations across the phase diagram.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05-CH11231; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1488566
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1479452; OSTI ID: 1484107; OSTI ID: 1492129
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 98, Issue 18; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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