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

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

Abstract

We report comprehensive pair distribution function measurements of the hole-doped iron-based superconductor system Sr$$_{1-x}$$Na$$_{x}$$Fe$$_2$$As$$_2$$. 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 ($$x \gtrsim 0.48$$, 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.

Authors:
 [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)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1488566
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1479452; OSTI ID: 1484107; OSTI ID: 1492129
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05-CH11231; SC0012704
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 98; Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Frandsen, Benjamin A., Taddei, Keith M., Bugaris, Daniel E., Stadel, Ryan, Yi, Ming, Acharya, Arani, Osborn, Raymond, Rosenkranz, Stephan, Chmaissem, Omar, and Birgeneau, Robert J. Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the (Sr,Na)Fe2As2 family of superconductors. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/physRevB.98.180505.
Frandsen, Benjamin A., Taddei, Keith M., Bugaris, Daniel E., Stadel, Ryan, Yi, Ming, Acharya, Arani, Osborn, Raymond, Rosenkranz, Stephan, Chmaissem, Omar, & Birgeneau, Robert J. Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the (Sr,Na)Fe2As2 family of superconductors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physRevB.98.180505
Frandsen, Benjamin A., Taddei, Keith M., Bugaris, Daniel E., Stadel, Ryan, Yi, Ming, Acharya, Arani, Osborn, Raymond, Rosenkranz, Stephan, Chmaissem, Omar, and Birgeneau, Robert J. Mon . "Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the (Sr,Na)Fe2As2 family of superconductors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physRevB.98.180505. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1488566.
@article{osti_1488566,
title = {Widespread orthorhombic fluctuations in the (Sr,Na)Fe2As2 family of superconductors},
author = {Frandsen, Benjamin A. and Taddei, Keith M. and Bugaris, Daniel E. and Stadel, Ryan and Yi, Ming and Acharya, Arani and Osborn, Raymond and Rosenkranz, Stephan and Chmaissem, Omar and Birgeneau, Robert J.},
abstractNote = {We report comprehensive pair distribution function measurements of the hole-doped iron-based superconductor system Sr$_{1-x}$Na$_{x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$. 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 ($x \gtrsim 0.48$, 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.},
doi = {10.1103/physRevB.98.180505},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 18,
volume = 98,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {11}
}

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

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 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


Tetragonal magnetic phase in Ba 1 x K x Fe 2 As 2 from x-ray and neutron diffraction
journal, September 2015


Optical observation of spin-density-wave fluctuations in Ba122 iron-based superconductors
journal, August 2016


Iron-based high transition temperature superconductors
journal, July 2014

  • Chen, Xianhui; Dai, Pengcheng; Feng, Donglai
  • National Science Review, Vol. 1, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwu007

Double-Q spin-density wave in iron arsenide superconductors
journal, January 2016

  • Allred, J. M.; Taddei, K. M.; Bugaris, D. E.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys3629

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


Unveiling the hidden nematicity and spin subsystem in FeSe
journal, June 2017


A Quantum Critical Point Lying Beneath the Superconducting Dome in Iron Pnictides
journal, March 2014


Critical spin fluctuations and the origin of nematic order in Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2
journal, January 2016

  • Kretzschmar, F.; Böhm, T.; Karahasanović, U.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys3634

The Nanoscale Ordered MAterials Diffractometer NOMAD at the Spallation Neutron Source SNS
journal, September 2012

  • Neuefeind, Jörg; Feygenson, Mikhail; Carruth, John
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 287
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2012.05.037

Scaling and critical slowing down in random-field Ising systems
journal, February 1986


Critical divergence of the symmetric ( A 1 g ) nonlinear elastoresistance near the nematic transition in an iron-based superconductor
journal, November 2017


Complex modeling: a strategy and software program for combining multiple information sources to solve ill posed structure and nanostructure inverse problems
journal, September 2015

  • Juhás, Pavol; Farrow, Christopher L.; Yang, Xiaohao
  • Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations and Advances, Vol. 71, Issue 6, p. 562-568
  • DOI: 10.1107/S2053273315014473

Detailed magnetic and structural analysis mapping a robust magnetic C 4 dome in Sr 1 x Na x Fe 2 As 2
journal, April 2016


Maximizing T c by tuning nematicity and magnetism in FeSe1−x S x superconductors
journal, October 2017


Low-energy microscopic models for iron-based superconductors: a review
journal, November 2016


Iron-based superconductors: Current status of materials and pairing mechanism
journal, July 2015


PDFfit2 and PDFgui: computer programs for studying nanostructure in crystals
journal, July 2007


Structural chemistry of superconducting pnictides and pnictide oxides with layered structures
journal, January 2011

  • Johrendt, Dirk; Hosono, Hideo; Hoffmann, Rolf-Dieter
  • Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, Vol. 226, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1524/zkri.2011.1363

Random Field Driven Spatial Complexity at the Mott Transition in VO 2
journal, January 2016


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


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


Role of the orbital degree of freedom in iron-based superconductors
journal, October 2017


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


Magnetism and its microscopic origin in iron-based high-temperature superconductors
journal, October 2012

  • Dai, Pengcheng; Hu, Jiangping; Dagotto, Elbio
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2438

Emergence of Orbital Nematicity in the Tetragonal Phase of BaFe 2 (As 1− x P x ) 2
journal, April 2015

  • Iye, Tetsuya; Julien, Marc-Henri; Mayaffre, Hadrien
  • Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 84, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.7566/JPSJ.84.043705

Antiferromagnetic critical fluctuations in BaFe 2 As 2
journal, October 2010


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


Charge-induced nematicity in FeSe
journal, August 2016

  • Massat, Pierre; Farina, Donato; Paul, Indranil
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 33
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1606562113

Tuning the interplay between nematicity and spin fluctuations in Na1−xLi x FeAs superconductors
journal, May 2018


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


Nematic Resonance in the Raman Response of Iron-Based Superconductors
journal, January 2016


Magnetism, Superconductivity, and Spontaneous Orbital Order in Iron-Based Superconductors: Which Comes First and Why?
journal, December 2016


Emergent Magnetic Degeneracy in Iron Pnictides due to the Interplay between Spin-Orbit Coupling and Quantum Fluctuations
journal, July 2018


Nematic quantum critical point without magnetism in FeSe 1− x S x superconductors
journal, July 2016

  • Hosoi, Suguru; Matsuura, Kohei; Ishida, Kousuke
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 29
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1605806113

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

X-Ray and Neutron Scattering, Magnetization, and Heat Capacity Study of the 3D Random Field Ising Model
journal, August 1995


Order parameter fluctuation and ordering competition in Ba 1 x K x Fe 2 As 2
journal, January 2017


Local orthorhombic lattice distortions in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of superconducting NaFe1−xNixAs
journal, August 2018


Nematic Electronic Structure in the “Parent” State of the Iron-Based Superconductor Ca(Fe 1– x Co x ) 2 As 2
journal, January 2010


ADDIE: ADvanced DIffraction Environment – a software environment for analyzing neutron diffraction data
journal, December 2017

  • McDonnell, M. T.; Olds, D. P.; Page, K. L.
  • Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations and Advances, Vol. 73, Issue a1
  • DOI: 10.1107/S0108767317096325

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

Magnetism and its microscopic origin in iron-based high-temperature superconductors
text, January 2012


Quantum critical point lying beneath the superconducting dome in iron-pnictides
text, January 2013


Iron based high transition temperature superconductors
text, January 2014


Double-Q spin-density wave in iron arsenide superconductors
text, January 2015


Detailed magnetic and structural analysis mapping a robust magnetic C4 dome in Sr1-xNaxFe2As2
text, January 2016


Unveiling the hidden nematicity and spin subsystem in FeSe
text, January 2016


Nematic quantum critical point without magnetism in FeSe1-xSx superconductors
text, January 2016


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


Low-energy microscopic models for iron-based superconductors: a review
text, January 2016


Maximizing Tc by tuning nematicity and magnetism in FeSe1-xSx superconductors
text, January 2017


Works referencing / citing this record:

Local orbital degeneracy lifting as a precursor to an orbital-selective Peierls transition
journal, August 2019


Room temperature local nematicity in FeSe superconductor
journal, July 2019


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