No Arabic abstract
We investigated the complex conductivity spectrum of a Co-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ epitaxial thin film in the THz region. In the normal state, the complex conductivity shows a Drude-type frequency dependence, while in the superconducting state, the frequency dependence of the complex conductivity changes to that of a typical superconducting materials. We estimated the magnetic penetration depth at absolute zero to be 710 nm and the superconducting gap energy to be 2.8 meV, which is considered to be the superconducting gap opened at the electron-type Fermi surface near the M point. We succeeded in obtaining the low-energy elementary excitation of a Fe-based superconductor using the electromagnetic method without invoking the Kramers-Kronig transformation.
We report on a thorough optical investigation over a broad spectral range and as a function of temperature of the charge dynamics in Ba(Co$_x$Fe$_{1-x}$)$_2$As$_2$ compounds for Co-doping ranging between 0 and 18%. For the parent compound as well as for $x$=0.025 we observe the opening of a pseudogap, due to the spin-density-wave phase transition and inducing a reshuffling of spectral weight from low to high frequencies. For compounds with 0.051$le x le$ 0.11 we detect the superconducting gap, while at $x$=0.18 the material stays metallic at all temperatures. We describe the effective metallic contribution to the optical conductivity with two Drude terms, representing the combination of a coherent and incoherent component, and extract the respective scattering rates. We establish that the $dc$ transport properties in the normal phase are dominated by the coherent Drude term for 0$le x le$0.051 and by the incoherent one for 0.061$le x le$0.18, respectively. Finally through spectral weight arguments, we give clear-cut evidence for moderate electronic correlations for 0$le x le$0.061, which then crossover to values appropriate for a regime of weak interacting and nearly-free electron metals for $xge$0.11.
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on Ba(Fe$_{0.963}$Ni$_{0.037}$)$_2$As$_2$ manifest a neutron spin resonance in the superconducting state with anisotropic dispersion within the Fe layer. Whereas the resonance is sharply peaked at Q$_{AFM}$ along the orthorhombic a axis, the resonance disperses upwards away from Q$_{AFM}$ along the b axis. In contrast to the downward dispersing resonance and hour-glass shape of the spin excitations in superconducting cuprates, the resonance in electron-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ compounds possesses a magnon-like upwards dispersion.
We develop a minimal multiorbital tight-binding model with realistic hopping parameters. The model breaks the symmetry of the tetragonal point group by lowering it from $C_4$ to $D_{2d}$, which accurately describes the Fermi surface evolution of the electron-doped BaFe$_{2-x}$Co$_x$As$_2$ and hole-doped Ba$_{1-y}$K$_y$Fe$_2$As$_2$ compounds. An investigation of the phase diagram with a mean-field $t$-$U$-$V$ Bogoliubov-de Gennes Hamiltonian results in agreement with the experimentally observed electron- and hole-doped phase diagram with only one set of $t$, $U$ and $V$ parameters. Additionally, the self-consistently calculated superconducting order parameter exhibits $s^pm$-wave pairing symmetry with a small d-wave pairing admixture in the entire doping range, % The superconducting $s^pm + d$-wave order parameter which is the subtle result of the weakly broken symmetry and competing interactions in the multiorbital mean-field Hamiltonian.
We have studied the magnetic ordering in Na doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ by unpolarized and polarized neutron diffraction using single crystals. Unlike previously studied FeAs-based compounds that magnetically order, Ba$_{1-x}$Na$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ exhibits two successive magnetic transitions: For x=0.35 upon cooling magnetic order occurs at $sim$70 K with in-plane magnetic moments being arranged as in pure or Ni, Co and K-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ samples. At a temperature of $sim$46 K a second phase transition occurs, which the single-crystal neutron diffraction experiments can unambiguously identify as a spin reorientation. At low temperatures, the ordered magnetic moments in Ba$_{0.65}$Na$_{0.35}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ point along the $c$ direction. Magnetic correlations in these materials cannot be considered as Ising like, and spin-orbit coupling must be included in a quantitative theory.
We show, from first-principles calculations, that the hole-doped side of FeAs-based compounds is different from its electron-doped counterparts. The electron side is characterized as Fermi surface nesting, and SDW-to-NM quantum critical point (QCP) is realized by doping. For the hole-doped side, on the other hand, orbital-selective partial orbital ordering develops together with checkboard antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering without lattice distortion. A unique SDW-to-AF QCP is achieved, and $J_2$=$J_1/2$ criteria (in the approximate $J_1&J_2$ model) is satisfied. The observed superconductivity is located in the vicinity of QCP for both sides.