Letter abstract
Nature Materials 8, 471 - 475 (2009)
Published online: 3 May 2009 | Corrected online: 8 May 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2443
Subject Categories: Magnetic materials | Superconductors
Similarities between structural distortions under pressure and chemical doping in superconducting BaFe2As2
Simon A. J. Kimber1, Andreas Kreyssig2,3, Yu-Zhong Zhang4, Harald O. Jeschke4, Roser Valentí4, Fabiano Yokaichiya1, Estelle Colombier2, Jiaqiang Yan2, Thomas C. Hansen5, Tapan Chatterji6, Robert J. McQueeney2,3, Paul C. Canfield2,3, Alan I. Goldman2,3 & Dimitri N. Argyriou1
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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Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), Glienicker Stra
e 100, D-14109 Berlin, Germany
- Ames Laboratory, US DOE, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
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Institute für Theoretische Physik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Strae 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Institute Max von Laue–Paul Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
- JCNS, Forschungszentrum Jülich Outstation at Institut Laue–Langevin, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
Correspondence to: Simon A. J. Kimber1 e-mail: simon.kimber@helmholtz-berlin.de
Correspondence to: Dimitri N. Argyriou1 e-mail: argyriou@helmholtz-berlin.de
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