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Register a new userElectronic correlations in the iron pnictides
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In correlated metals derived from Mott insulators, the motion of an electron is impeded by Coulomb repulsion due to other electrons. This phenomenon causes a substantial reduction in the electrons kinetic energy leading to remarkable experimental manifestations in optical spectroscopy. The high-Tc superconducting cuprates are perhaps the most studied examples of such correlated metals. The occurrence of high-Tc superconductivity in the iron pnictides puts a spotlight on the relevance of correlation effects in these materials. Here we present an infrared and optical study on single crystals of the iron pnictide superconductor LaFePO. We find clear evidence of electronic correlations in metallic LaFePO with the kinetic energy of the electrons reduced to half of that predicted by band theory of nearly free electrons. Hallmarks of strong electronic many-body effects reported here are important because the iron pnictides expose a new pathway towards a correlated electron state that does not explicitly involve the Mott transition.
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Deviations of low-energy electronic structure of iron-based superconductors from density functional theory predictions have been parametrized in terms of band- and orbital-dependent mass renormalizations and energy shifts. The former have typically been described in terms of a local self-energy within the framework of dynamical mean field theory, while the latter appears to require non-local effects due to interband scattering. By calculating the renormalized bandstructure in both random phase approximation (RPA) and the two-particle self-consistent approximation (TPSC), we show that correlations in pnictide systems like LaFeAsO and LiFeAs can be described rather well by a non-local self-energy. In particular, Fermi pocket shrinkage as seen in experiment occurs due to repulsive interband finite-energy scattering. For the canonical iron chalcogenide system FeSe in its bulk tetragonal phase, the situation is however more complex since even including momentum-dependent band renormalizations cannot explain experimental findings. We propose that the long-range Coulomb interaction may play an important role in band-structure renormalization in FeSe. We further compare our evaluations of non-local quasiparticle scattering lifetime within RPA and TPSC with experimental data for LiFeAs.
We calculate the expected finite frequency neutron scattering intensity based on the two-sublattice collinear antiferromagnet found by recent neutron scattering experiments as well as by theoretical analysis on the iron oxypnictide LaOFeAs. We consider two types of superexchange couplings between Fe atoms: nearest-neighbor coupling J1 and next-nearest-neighbor coupling J2. We show how to distinguish experimentally between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic J1. Whereas magnetic excitations in the cuprates display a so-called resonance peak at (pi,pi) (corresponding to a saddlepoint in the magnetic spectrum) which is at a wavevector that is at least close to nesting Fermi-surface-like structures, no such corresponding excitations exist in the iron pnictides. Rather, we find saddlepoints near (pi,pi/2) and (0,pi/2)(and symmetry related points). Unlike in the cuprates, none of these vectors are close to nesting the Fermi surfaces.
Using nuclear quadrupole resonance, the phase diagram of 1111 $R$FeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ ($R$$=$La, Ce, Sm) iron pnictides is constructed as a function of the local charge distribution in the paramagnetic state, which features low-doping-like (LD-like) and high-doping-like (HD-like) regions. Compounds based on magnetic rare earths (Ce, Sm) display a unified behavior, and comparison with La-based compounds reveals the detrimental role of static iron $3d$ magnetism on superconductivity, as well as a qualitatively different evolution of the latter at high doping. It is found that the LD-like regions fully account for the orthorhombicity of the system, and are thus the origin of any static iron magnetism. Orthorhombicity and static magnetism are not hindered by superconductivity but limited by dilution effects, in agreement with 2D (respectively 3D) nearest-neighbor square lattice site percolation when the rare earth is nonmagnetic (respectively magnetic). The LD-like regions are not intrinsically supportive of superconductivity, on the contrary of the HD-like regions, as evidenced by the well-defined Uemura relation between the superconducting transition temperature and the superfluid density when accounting for the proximity effect. This leads us to propose a complete description of the interplay of ground states in 1111 pnictides, where nanoscopic regions compete to establish the ground state through suppression of superconductivity by static magnetism, and extension of superconductivity by proximity effect.
The charge distribution in RFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ (R=La, Sm) iron pnictides is probed using As nuclear quadrupole resonance. Whereas undoped and optimally-doped or overdoped compounds feature a single charge environment, two charge environments are detected in the underdoped region. Spin-lattice relaxation measurements show their coexistence at the nanoscale. Together with the quantitative variations of the spectra with doping, they point to a local electronic order in the iron layers, where low- and high-doping-like regions would coexist. Implications for the interplay of static magnetism and superconductivity are discussed.
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.
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