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Coexistence of static magnetism and superconductivity in SmFeAsO1−xFx as revealed by muon spin rotation

Nature Materials volume 8, pages 310–314 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The recent observation of superconductivity with critical temperatures (Tc) up to 55 K in the pnictide RFeAsO1−xFx, where R is a lanthanide, marks the first discovery of a non-copper-oxide-based layered high-Tc superconductor1,2,3. It has raised the suspicion that these new materials share a similar pairing mechanism to the cuprate superconductors, as both families exhibit superconductivity following charge doping of a magnetic parent material. In this context, it is important to follow the evolution of the microscopic magnetic properties of the pnictides with doping and hence to determine whether magnetic correlations coexist with superconductivity. Here, we present a muon spin rotation study on SmFeAsO1−xFx, with x=0–0.30 that shows that, as in the cuprates, static magnetism persists well into the superconducting regime. This analogy is quite surprising as the parent compounds of the two families have rather different magnetic ground states: itinerant spin density wave for the pnictides contrasted with the Mott–Hubbard insulator in the cuprates. Our findings therefore suggest that the proximity to magnetic order and associated soft magnetic fluctuations, rather than strong electronic correlations in the vicinity of a Mott–Hubbard transition, may be the key ingredients of high-Tc superconductors.

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Figure 1: Temperature and doping dependencies of the ZF-μSR spectra of SmFeAsO1−xFx.
Figure 2: Evolution of the magnetic signal of the μSR measurements on SmFeAsO1−xFx as a function of doping and temperature.
Figure 3: Evidence for bulk superconductivity due to a gap-like suppression of the infrared optical conductivity, and magnetization and resistivity data supporting the presence of superconductivity.
Figure 4: Phase diagram of the magnetic and superconducting properties of SmFeAsO1−xFx.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF) by grant 200020-119784 and the NCCR program MANEP, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) by grant BE2684/1-3 in FOR538 and the UK EPSRC. We acknowledge helpful discussions with D. Baeriswyl, A. T. Boothroyd and M. Siegrist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Fribourg Centre for Nanomaterials, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 3, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland

    A. J. Drew, V. K. Malik, A. Dubroka, M. Rössle, K. W. Kim & C. Bernhard

  2. Department of Physics, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK

    A. J. Drew

  3. Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, Paul Scherrer Institut & ETH Zürich, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland

    Ch. Niedermayer

  4. Department of Physics, Oxford University, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK

    P. J. Baker, S. J. Blundell & T. Lancaster

  5. ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK

    F. L. Pratt

  6. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China

    R. H. Liu, G. Wu & X. H. Chen

  7. RIKEN-RAL, Nishina Centre, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan

    I. Watanabe

  8. Laboratory for Muon Spin Spectroscopy, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland

    C. Baines

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  1. A. J. Drew
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Contributions

A.J.D, Ch.N., F.L.P., S.J.B., T.L., I.W., C. Baines and C. Bernhard carried out the muon experiments. A.J.D, Ch.N., F.L.P., S.J.B. and C.B(2) analysed and interpreted the results. A.J.D., P.J.B., S.J.B., V.K.M, A.D., M.R., K.W.K. and C.B.(2) were responsible for the characterization measurements. R.H.L., G.W. and X.H.C. prepared the samples.

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Correspondence to A. J. Drew or C. Bernhard.

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Drew, A., Niedermayer, C., Baker, P. et al. Coexistence of static magnetism and superconductivity in SmFeAsO1−xFx as revealed by muon spin rotation. Nature Mater 8, 310–314 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2396

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