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Similarities between structural distortions under pressure and chemical doping in superconducting BaFe2As2

Nature Materials volume 8, pages 471–475 (2009)Cite this article

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Abstract

The discovery of a new family of high-TC materials1, the iron arsenides (FeAs), has led to a resurgence of interest in superconductivity. Several important traits of these materials are now apparent: for example, layers of iron tetrahedrally coordinated by arsenic are crucial structural ingredients. It is also now well established that the parent non-superconducting phases are itinerant magnets2,3,4,5, and that superconductivity can be induced by either chemical substitution6 or application of pressure7, in sharp contrast to the cuprate family of materials. The structure and properties of chemically substituted samples are known to be intimately linked8,9; however, remarkably little is known about this relationship when high pressure is used to induce superconductivity in undoped compounds. Here we show that the key structural features in BaFe2As2, namely suppression of the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition and reduction in the As–Fe–As bond angle and Fe–Fe distance, show the same behaviour under pressure as found in chemically substituted samples. Using experimentally derived structural data, we show that the electronic structure evolves similarly in both cases. These results suggest that modification of the Fermi surface by structural distortions is more important than charge doping for inducing superconductivity in BaFe2As2.

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Figure 1: Crystal structure of BaFe2As2, tetrahedral angles and high-pressure transport measurements.
Figure 2: Results of high-pressure neutron diffraction experiment.
Figure 3: Structural response of BaFe2As2 to applied pressure.
Figure 4: Pressure dependence of As–Fe–As bond angles and reduction in strength of the Fermi-surface nesting at high pressure.

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  • 08 May 2009

    In the HTML version of this Letter, the third author's name was spelt incorrectly, and there was an error in the penultimate paragraph of the main text; both errors have now been corrected. All other versions of this Letter are correct.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin for funding and the Institute Max von Laue–Paul Langevin for access to their instruments. We also thank the high-pressure sample environment group of the ILL for technical support. Work at Ames Laboratory was supported by the US Department of Energy—Basic Energy Sciences under contract No DE-AC02-07CH11358. R. V. and H. O. J. thank the DFG for financial support through the TRR/SFB 49 and Emmy Noether programs. S. A. J. K thanks M. V. Kaisheva for a critical reading of the manuscript and D. A. Tennant for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), Glienicker Straße 100, D-14109 Berlin, Germany

    Simon A. J. Kimber, Fabiano Yokaichiya & Dimitri N. Argyriou

  2. Ames Laboratory, US DOE, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA

    Andreas Kreyssig, Estelle Colombier, Jiaqiang Yan, Robert J. McQueeney, Paul C. Canfield & Alan I. Goldman

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA

    Andreas Kreyssig, Robert J. McQueeney, Paul C. Canfield & Alan I. Goldman

  4. Institute für Theoretische Physik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Yu-Zhong Zhang, Harald O. Jeschke & Roser Valentí

  5. Institute Max von Laue–Paul Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Thomas C. Hansen

  6. JCNS, Forschungszentrum Jülich Outstation at Institut Laue–Langevin, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Tapan Chatterji

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  1. Simon A. J. Kimber
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Correspondence to Simon A. J. Kimber or Dimitri N. Argyriou.

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Kimber, S., Kreyssig, A., Zhang, YZ. et al. Similarities between structural distortions under pressure and chemical doping in superconducting BaFe2As2. Nature Mater 8, 471–475 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2443

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