We present measurements of the thermal expansion coefficient $alpha$ of polycrystalline RFeAsO (R = La,Ce,Pr,Sm,Gd). Anomalies at the magnetic ordering transitions indicate a significant magneto-elastic coupling and a negative pressure dependence of $T_{rm N}$ . The structural transitions are associated by large anomalies in $alpha$. Rare earth magnetic ordering in CeFeAsO, PrFeAsO, and SmFeAsO yields large positive anomalies at low temperatures.
The tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition (SPT) in LaFeAsO (La-1111) and SmFeAsO (Sm-1111) single crystals measured by high resolution x-ray diffraction is found to be sharp while the RFeAsO (R=La, Nd, Pr, Sm) polycrystalline samples show a broad continuous SPT. Comparing the polycrystalline and the single crystal 1111 samples, the critical exponents of the SPT are found to be the same while the correlation length critical exponents are found to be very different. These results imply that the lattice fluctuations in 1111 systems change in samples with different surface to volume ratio that is assigned to the relieve of the temperature dependent superlattice misfit strain between active iron layers and the spacer layers in 1111 systems. This phenomenon that is missing in the AFe2As2 (A=Ca, Sr, Ba) 122 systems, with the same electronic structure but different for the thickness and the elastic constant of the spacer layers, is related with the different maximum superconducting transition temperature in the 1111 (55 K) versus 122 (35 K) systems and implies the surface reconstruction in 1111 single crystals.
We report zero field muon spin relaxation (muSR) measurements on RFeAsO with R = La, Ce, Pr, and Sm. We study the interaction of the FeAs and R (rare earth) electronic systems in the non superconducting magnetically ordered parent compounds of RFeAsO{1-x}Fx superconductors via a detailed comparison of the local hyperfine fields at the muon site with available Moessbauer spectroscopy and neutron scattering data. These studies provide microscopic evidence of long range commensurate magnetic Fe order with the Fe moments not varying by more than 15 % within the series RFeAsO with R = La, Ce, Pr, and Sm. At low temperatures, long range R magnetic order is also observed. Different combined Fe and R magnetic structures are proposed for all compounds using the muon site in the crystal structure obtained by electronic potential calculations. Our data point to a strong effect of R order on the iron subsystem in the case of different symmetry of Fe and R order parameters resulting in a Fe spin reorientation in the R ordered phase in PrFeAsO. Our symmetry analysis proves the absence of collinear Fe--R Heisenberg interactions in RFeAsO. A strong Fe--Ce coupling due to non--Heisenberg anisotropic exchange is found in CeFeAsO which results in a large staggered Ce magnetization induced by the magnetically ordered Fe sublattice far above T_N{Ce}. Finally, we argue that the magnetic R--Fe interaction is probably not crucial for the observed enhanced superconductivity in RFeAsO{1-x}Fx with a magnetic R ion.
A new crystal growth technique for single-crystals of REFeAsO (RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, and Tb) using NaI/KI as flux is presented. Crystals with a size up to 300 $mu$m were isolated for single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. Lattice parameters were determined by LeBail fits of X-ray powder data against LaB6 standard. A consistent set of structural data is obtained and interpreted in a hard-sphere model. Effective radii for the rare-earth metal atoms for REFeAsO are deduced. The relation of the intra- and inter-plane distances of the arsenic atoms is identified as limiter of the phase formation, and its influence on Tc is discussed.
We report measurements of structural phase transition of four parent compounds $R$FeAsO ($R$ = La, Sm, Gd, and Tb) by means of low-temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD). Magnetic transition temperatures associated with Fe ions ($T_{N1}$) are also determined from the temperature dependence of resistivity. As $R$ is changed from La, through Sm and Gd, to Tb, both the c-axis and a-axis lattice constants decrease significantly. Meanwhile both the structural phase transition temperature ($T_S$) and $T_{N1}$ decrease monotonously. It is also found that the temperature gap between $T_S$ and $T_{N1}$ becomes smaller when the distance between FeAs layer becomes shorter. This result is consistent with magnetically driven structural phase transition and suggests that the dimensionality have an important effect on the AFM ordering.
We investigate the effect of external pressure on magnetic order in undoped LnFeAsO (Ln = La, Ce, Pr, La) by using muon-spin relaxation measurements and ab-initio calculations. Both magnetic transition temperature $T_m$ and Fe magnetic moment decrease with external pressure. The effect is observed to be lanthanide dependent with the strongest response for Ln = La and the weakest for Ln = Sm. The trend is qualitatively in agreement with our DFT calculations. The same calculations allow us to assign a value of 0.68(2) $mu_B$ to the Fe moment, obtained from an accurate determination of the muon sites. Our data further show that the magnetic lanthanide order transitions do not follow the simple trend of Fe, possibly as a consequence of the different $f$-electron overlap.