No Arabic abstract
Magnetism in the insulating BaFe$_2$Se$_3$ was examined through susceptibility, specific heat, resistivity and neutron diffraction measurements. After formation of a short-range magnetic correlation, a long-range ordering was observed below $T_{rm N}sim 255$ K. The transition is obscured by bulk properties. Magnetic moments ($parallel a$) are arranged to form a Fe$_4$ ferromagnetic unit, and each Fe$_4$ stacks antiferromagnetically. This block magnetism is of the third type among magnetic structures of ferrous materials. The magnetic ordering drives unusually large distortion via magnetoelastic coupling.
Iron pnictides and selenides display a variety of unusual magnetic phases originating from the interplay between electronic, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom. Using powder inelastic neutron scattering on the two-leg ladder BaFe2Se3, we fully characterize the static and dynamic spin correlations associated with the Fe4 block state, an exotic magnetic ground state observed in this low-dimensional magnet and in Rb0.89Fe1.58Se2. All the magnetic excitations of the Fe4 block state predicted by an effective Heisenberg model with localized spins are observed below 300 meV and quantitatively reproduced. However, the data only account for 16 mub^2 per Fe2+, approximatively 2/3 of the total spectral weight expected for localized S=2 moments. Our results highlight how orbital degrees of freedom in iron-based magnets can conspire to stabilize an exotic magnetic state.
The compound BaFe2Se3 (Pnma) has been synthesized in the form of single crystals with the average composition Ba0.992Fe1.998Se3. The Moessbauer spectroscopy used for investigation of the valence states of Fe in this compound at temperature ranging from 4.2 K till room temperature revealed the occurrence of mixed-valence state for iron. The spectrum is characterized by sharply defined electric quadrupole doublet above magnetic ordering at about 250 K. For the magnetically ordered state one sees four iron sites at least and each of them is described by separate axially symmetric electric field gradient tensor with the principal component making some angle with the hyperfine magnetic field. They form two groups occurring in equal abundances. It is likely that each group belongs to separate spin ladder with various tilts of the FeSe4 tetrahedral units along the ladder. Two impurity phases are found, i.e., superconducting FeSe and some other unidentified iron-bearing phase being magnetically disordered above 80 K. Powder form of BaFe2Se3 is unstable in contact with the air and decomposes slowly to this unidentified phase exhibiting almost the same quadrupole doublet as BaFe2Se3 above magnetic transition temperature.
We study a two-orbital spin model to describe (pi,0) stripe antiferromagnetism in the iron pnictides. The double-spin model has an on-site Hundss coupling and inter-site interactions extending to second neighbors (inter- and intra-orbital) on the square lattice. Using a variational method based on a cluster decomposition, we optimize wave functions with up to 8 cluster sites (up to 2^16 variational parameters). We focus on the anomalously small ordered moments in the stripe state of the pnictides. To account for it, and large variations among different compounds, we show that the second-neighbor cross-orbital exchange constant should be ferromagnetic, which leads to partially hidden stripe order, with a moment that can be varied over a large range by small changes in the coupling constants. In a different parameter region, we confirm the existence of a canted state previously found in spin-wave theory. We also identify several other phases of the model.
The majority of the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) exhibit a two-dimensional square lattice structure. Recent reports of pressure-induced superconductivity in the spin-ladder system, BaFe$_2$X$_3$ (X =S,Se), introduce a quasi-one-dimensional prototype and an insulating parent compound to the FeSCs. Here we report X-ray, neutron diffraction and muon spin relaxation experiments on BaFe$_2$Se$_3$ under hydrostatic pressure to investigate its magnetic and structural properties across the pressure-temperature phase diagram. A structural phase transition was identified at a pressure of 3.7(3) GPa. Neutron diffraction measurements at 6.8(3) GPa and 120 K show that the block magnetism persists even at these high pressures. A steady increase and then fast drop of the magnetic transition temperature $Trm_N$ and greatly reduced moment above the pressure $P_s$ indicate potentially rich and competing phases close to the superconducting phase in this ladder system.
Temperature dependent crystal structures of the quasi-one-dimensional ladder material BaFe2Se3 are examined. Combining the optical second harmonic generation (SHG) experiments and neutron diffraction measurements, we elucidate the crystal structure with Pmn2_1 space group in the low-temperature phase below Ts2 = 400 K, further above Neel temperature. This low-temperature phase loses the spatial inversion symmetry, where a resultant macroscopic polarization emerges along the rung direction. The transition is characterized by block-type lattice distortions with the magneto-striction mechanism. Change in the electrical resistivity and the magnetic susceptibility across the polar-nonpolar transition also suggests a modification of the electronic states reflecting the structural instability. Consistency and discrepancy with the existing theory are discussed.