No Arabic abstract
High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements on BaFe2As2-one of the parent compounds of the iron-based superconductors-reveals a (1x1) As-terminated unit cell on the (001) surface. However, there are significant differences of the surface unit cell compared to the bulk: only one of the two As atoms in the unit cell is imaged and domain walls between different (1x1) regions display a C2 symmetry at the surface. It should have been C2v if the STM image reflected the geometric structure of the surface or the orthorhombic bulk. The inequivalent As atoms and the bias dependence of the domain walls indicate that the origin of the STM image is primarily electronic not geometric. We argue that the surface electronic topography mirrors the bulk spin structure of BaFe2As2, via strong orbital-spin coupling.
We report neutron scattering measurements of cooperative spin excitations in antiferromagnetically ordered BaFe2As2, the parent phase of an iron pnictide superconductor. The data extend up to ~100meV and show that the spin excitation spectrum is sharp and highly dispersive. By fitting the spectrum to a linear spin-wave model we estimate the magnon bandwidth to be in the region of 0.17eV. The large characteristic spin fluctuation energy suggests that magnetism could play a role in the formation of the superconducting state.
Magnetic interactions are generally believed to play a key role in mediating electron pairing for superconductivity in iron arsenides; yet their character is only partially understood. Experimentally, the antiferromagnetic (AF) transition is always preceded by or coincident with a tetragonal to orthorhombic structural distortion. Although it has been suggested that this lattice distortion is driven by an electronic nematic phase, where a spontaneously generated electronic liquid crystal state breaks the C4 rotational symmetry of the paramagnetic state, experimental evidence for electronic anisotropy has been either in the low-temperature orthorhombic phase or the tetragonal phase under uniaxial pressure that breaks this symmetry. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to demonstrate the presence of a large in-plane spin anisotropy above TN in the unstressed tetragonal phase of BaFe2As2. In the low-temperature orthorhombic phase, we find highly anisotropic spin waves with a large damping along the AF a-axis direction. On warming the system to the paramagnetic tetragonal phase, the low-energy spin waves evolve into quasi-elastic excitations, while the anisotropic spin excitations near the zone boundary persist. These results strongly suggest that the spin nematicity we find in the tetragonal phase of BaFe2As2 is the source of the electronic and orbital anisotropy observed above TN by other probes, and has profound consequences for the physics of these materials.
We performed a comprehensive angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of the electronic band structure of LaOFeAs single crystals. We found that samples cleaved at low temperature show an unstable and highly complicated band structure, whereas samples cleaved at high temperature exhibit a stable and clearer electronic structure. Using emph{in-situ} surface doping with K and supported by first-principles calculations, we identify both surface and bulk bands. Our assignments are confirmed by the difference in the temperature dependence of the bulk and surface states.
Here we present bulk property measurements and electronic structure calculations for PuFeAsO, an actinide analogue of the iron-based rare-earth superconductors RFeAsO. Magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity data suggest the occurrence of an antiferromagnetic transition at TN=50 K. No further anomalies have been observed down to 2 K, the minimum temperature that we have been able to achieve. Structural measurements indicate that PuFeAsO, with its more localized 5f electrons, bears a stronger resemblance to the RFeAsO compounds with larger R ions, than NpFeAsO does.
We report high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies of the electronic structure of BaFe$_2$As$_2$, which is one of the parent compounds of the Fe-pnictide superconductors. ARPES measurements have been performed at 20 K and 300 K, corresponding to the orthorhombic antiferromagnetic phase and the tetragonal paramagnetic phase, respectively. Photon energies between 30 and 175 eV and polarizations parallel and perpendicular to the scattering plane have been used. Measurements of the Fermi surface yield two hole pockets at the $Gamma$-point and an electron pocket at each of the X-points. The topology of the pockets has been concluded from the dispersion of the spectral weight as a function of binding energy. Changes in the spectral weight at the Fermi level upon variation of the polarization of the incident photons yield important information on the orbital character of the states near the Fermi level. No differences in the electronic structure between 20 and 300 K could be resolved. The results are compared with density functional theory band structure calculations for the tetragonal paramagnetic phase.