Browsing by Author "Tam, David W."

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    c-axis pressure-induced antiferromagnetic order in optimally P-doped BaFe2(As0.70P0.30)2 superconductor
    (Springer Nature, 2018) Hu, Ding; Wang, Weiyi; Zhang, Wenliang; Wei, Yuan; Gong, Dongliang; Tam, David W.; Zhou, Panpan; Li, Yu; Tan, Guotai; Song, Yu; Georgii, Robert; Pedersen, Björn; Cao, Huibo; Tian, Wei; Roessli, Bertrand; Yin, Zhiping; Dai, Pengcheng
    Superconductivity in BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 iron pnictides emerges when its in-plane two-dimensional (2D) orthorhombic lattice distortion associated with nematic phase at Ts and three-dimensional (3D) collinear antiferromagnetic order at TN (Ts = TN) are gradually suppressed with increasing x, reaching optimal superconductivity around x = 0.30 with Tc ≈ 30 K. Here we show that a moderate uniaxial pressure along the c-axis in BaFe2(As0.70P0.30)2 spontaneously induces a 3D collinear antiferromagnetic order with TN = Ts > 30 K, while only slightly suppresses Tc. Although a ~ 400 MPa pressure compresses the c-axis lattice while expanding the in-plane lattice and increasing the nearest-neighbor Fe–Fe distance, it barely changes the average iron-pnictogen height in BaFe2(As0.70P0.30)2. Therefore, the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic order must arise from a strong in-plane magnetoelastic coupling, suggesting that the 2D nematic phase is a competing state with superconductivity.
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    Disentangling superconducting and magnetic orders in NaFe1−xNixAs using muon spin rotation
    (American Physical Society, 2018) Cheung, Sky C.; Guguchia, Zurab; Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Gong, Zizhou; Yamakawa, Kohtaro; Almeida, Dalson E.; Onuorah, Ifeanyi J.; Bonfá, Pietro; Miranda, Eduardo; Wang, Weiyi; Tam, David W.; Song, Yu; Cao, Chongde; Cai, Yipeng; Hallas, Alannah M.; Wilson, Murray N.; Munsie, Timothy J.S.; Luke, Graeme; Chen, Bijuan; Dai, Guangyang; Jin, Changqing; Guo, Shengli; Ning, Fanlong; Fernandes, Rafael M.; De Renzi, Roberto; Dai, Pengcheng; Uemura, Yasutomo J.
    Muon spin rotation and relaxation studies have been performed on a “111” family of iron-based superconductors, NaFe1−xNixAs, using single crystalline samples with Ni concentrations x=0, 0.4, 0.6, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.5%. Static magnetic order was characterized by obtaining the temperature and doping dependences of the local ordered magnetic moment size and the volume fraction of the magnetically ordered regions. For x=0 and 0.4%, a transition to a nearly-homogeneous long range magnetically ordered state is observed, while for x≳0.4% magnetic order becomes more disordered and is completely suppressed for x=1.5%. The magnetic volume fraction continuously decreases with increasing x. Development of superconductivity in the full volume is inferred from Meissner shielding results for x≳0.4%. The combination of magnetic and superconducting volumes implies that a spatially-overlapping coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity spans a large region of the T−x phase diagram for NaFe1−xNixAs. A strong reduction of both the ordered moment size and the volume fraction is observed below the superconducting TC for x=0.6, 1.0, and 1.3%, in contrast to other iron pnictides in which one of these two parameters exhibits a reduction below TC, but not both. The suppression of magnetic order is further enhanced with increased Ni doping, leading to a reentrant nonmagnetic state below TC for x=1.3%. The reentrant behavior indicates an interplay between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity involving competition for the same electrons. These observations are consistent with the sign-changing s± superconducting state, which is expected to appear on the verge of microscopic coexistence and phase separation with magnetism. We also present a universal linear relationship between the local ordered moment size and the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature TN across a variety of iron-based superconductors. We argue that this linear relationship is consistent with an itinerant-electron approach, in which Fermi surface nesting drives antiferromagnetic ordering. In studies of superconducting properties, we find that the T=0 limit of superfluid density follows the linear trend observed in underdoped cuprates when plotted against TC. This paper also includes a detailed theoretical prediction of the muon stopping sites and provides comparisons with experimental results.
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    Dynamic Spin-Lattice Coupling and Nematic Fluctuations in NaFeAs
    (American Physical Society, 2018) Li, Yu; Yamani, Zahra; Song, Yu; Wang, Weiyi; Zhang, Chenglin; Tam, David W.; Chen, Tong; Hu, Ding; Xu, Zhuang; Chi, Songxue; Xia, Ke; Zhang, Li; Cui, Shifeng; Guo, Wenan; Fang, Ziming; Liu, Yi; Dai, Pengcheng
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    Energy dependence of the spin excitation anisotropy in uniaxial-strained BaFe1.9Ni0.1As2
    (American Physical Society, 2015) Song, Yu; Lu, Xingye; Abernathy, D.L.; Tam, David W.; Niedziela, J.L.; Tian, Wei; Luo, Huiqian; Si, Qimiao; Dai, Pengcheng
    We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the temperature and energy dependence of the spin excitation anisotropy in uniaxial-strained electron-doped iron pnictide BaFe1.9Ni0.1As2 near optimal superconductivity (Tc=20K). Our work has been motivated by the observation of in-plane resistivity anisotropy in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of electron-underdoped iron pnictides under uniaxial pressure, which has been attributed to a spin-driven Ising-nematic state or orbital ordering. Here we show that the spin excitation anisotropy, a signature of the spin-driven Ising-nematic phase, exists for energies below ∼60 meV in uniaxial-strained BaFe1.9Ni0.1As2. Since this energy scale is considerably larger than the energy splitting of the dxz and dyz bands of uniaxial-strained Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2 near optimal superconductivity, spin Ising-nematic correlations are likely the driving force for the resistivity anisotropy and associated electronic nematic correlations.
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    High-K dielectric sulfur-selenium alloys
    (AAAS, 2019) Susarla, Sandhya; Tsafack, Thierry; Owuor, Peter Samora; Puthirath, Anand B.; Hachtel, Jordan A.; Babu, Ganguli; Apte, Amey; Jawdat, BenMaan I.; Hilario, Martin S.; Lerma, Albert; Calderon, Hector A.; Hernandez, Francisco C. Robles; Tam, David W.; Li, Tong; Lupini, Andrew R.; Idrobo, Juan Carlos; Lou, Jun; Wei, Bingqing; Dai, Pengcheng; Tiwary, Chandra Sekhar; Ajayan, Pulickel M.
    Upcoming advancements in flexible technology require mechanically compliant dielectric materials. Current dielectrics have either high dielectric constant, K (e.g., metal oxides) or good flexibility (e.g., polymers). Here, we achieve a golden mean of these properties and obtain a lightweight, viscoelastic, high-K dielectric material by combining two nonpolar, brittle constituents, namely, sulfur (S) and selenium (Se). This S-Se alloy retains polymer-like mechanical flexibility along with a dielectric strength (40 kV/mm) and a high dielectric constant (K = 74 at 1 MHz) similar to those of established metal oxides. Our theoretical model suggests that the principal reason is the strong dipole moment generated due to the unique structural orientation between S and Se atoms. The S-Se alloys can bridge the chasm between mechanically soft and high-K dielectric materials toward several flexible device applications.
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    In-plane uniaxial pressure-induced out-of-plane antiferromagnetic moment and critical fluctuations in BaFe2As2
    (Springer Nature, 2020) Liu, Panpan; Klemm, Mason L.; Tian, Long; Lu, Xingye; Song, Yu; Tam, David W.; Schmalzl, Karin; Park, J. T.; Li, Yu; Tan, Guotai; Su, Yixi; Bourdarot, Frédéric; Zhao, Yang; Lynn, Jeffery W.; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Dai, Pengcheng
    A small in-plane external uniaxial pressure has been widely used as an effective method to acquire single domain iron pnictide BaFe2As2, which exhibits twin-domains without uniaxial strain below the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural (nematic) transition temperature Ts. Although it is generally assumed that such a pressure will not affect the intrinsic electronic/magnetic properties of the system, it is known to enhance the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering temperature TN ( < Ts) and create in-plane resistivity anisotropy above Ts. Here we use neutron polarization analysis to show that such a strain on BaFe2As2 also induces a static or quasi-static out-of-plane (c-axis) AF order and its associated critical spin fluctuations near TN/Ts. Therefore, uniaxial pressure necessary to detwin single crystals of BaFe2As2 actually rotates the easy axis of the collinear AF order near TN/Ts, and such effects due to spin-orbit coupling must be taken into account to unveil the intrinsic electronic/magnetic properties of the system.
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    Orbital Selective Spin Excitations and their Impact on Superconductivity of LiFe1−xCoxAs
    (American Physical Society, 2016) Li, Yu; Yin, Zhiping; Wang, Xiancheng; Tam, David W.; Abernathy, D.L.; Podlesnyak, A.; Zhang, Chenglin; Wang, Meng; Xing, Lingyi; Jin, Changqing; Haule, Kristjan; Kotliar, Gabriel; Maier, Thomas A.; Dai, Pengcheng
    We use neutron scattering to study spin excitations in single crystals of LiFe0.88Co0.12As, which is located near the boundary of the superconducting phase of LiFe1−xCoxAs and exhibits non-Fermi-liquid behavior indicative of a quantum critical point. By comparing spin excitations of LiFe0.88Co0.12As with a combined density functional theory and dynamical mean field theory calculation, we conclude that wave-vector correlated low energy spin excitations are mostly from the dxy orbitals, while high-energy spin excitations arise from the dyz and dxz orbitals. Unlike most iron pnictides, the strong orbital selective spin excitations in the LiFeAs family cannot be described by an anisotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian. While the evolution of low-energy spin excitations of LiFe1−xCoxAs is consistent with the electron-hole Fermi surface nesting conditions for the dxy orbital, the reduced superconductivity in LiFe0.88Co0.12As suggests that Fermi surface nesting conditions for the dyz and dxz orbitals are also important for superconductivity in iron pnictides.
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    Short-range cluster spin glass near optimal superconductivity in BaFe2−xNixAs2
    (American Physical Society, 2014) Lu, Xingye; Tam, David W.; Zhang, Chenglin; Luo, Huiqian; Wang, Meng; Zhang, Rui; Harriger, Leland W.; Keller, T.; Keimer, B.; Regnault, L.-P.; Maier, Thomas A.; Dai, Pengcheng
    High-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides occurs when electrons are doped into their antiferromagnetic (AF) parent compounds. In addition to inducing superconductivity, electron doping also changes the static commensurate AF order in the undoped parent compounds into short-range incommensurate AF order near optimal superconductivity. Here we use neutron scattering to demonstrate that the incommensurate AF order in BaFe2−xNixAs2 is not a spin-density wave arising from the itinerant electrons in nested Fermi surfaces, but is consistent with a cluster spin glass in the matrix of the superconducting phase. Therefore, optimal superconductivity in iron pnictides coexists and competes with a mesoscopically separated cluster spin glass phase, much different from the homogeneous coexisting AF and superconducting phases in the underdoped regime.
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    Spin Waves in Detwinned BaFe2As2
    (American Physical Society, 2018) Lu, Xingye; Scherer, Daniel D.; Tam, David W.; Zhang, Wenliang; Zhang, Rui; Luo, Huiqian; Harriger, Leland W.; Walker, H.C.; Adroja, D.T.; Andersen, Brian M.; Dai, Pengcheng
    Understanding magnetic interactions in the parent compounds of high-temperature superconductors forms the basis for determining their role for the mechanism of superconductivity. For parent compounds of iron pnictide superconductors such as AFe_{2}As_{2} (A=Ba, Ca, Sr), although spin excitations have been mapped out throughout the entire Brillouin zone, the respective measurements were carried out on twinned samples and did not allow for a conclusive determination of the spin dynamics. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to completely map out spin excitations of ∼100% detwinned BaFe_{2}As_{2}. By comparing observed spectra with theoretical calculations, we conclude that the spin excitations can be well described by an itinerant model when taking into account moderate electronic correlation effects.
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    Weaker nematic phase connected to the first order antiferromagnetic phase transition inﾠSrFe2As2ﾠcompared toﾠBaFe2As2
    (American Physical Society, 2019) Tam, David W.; Wang, Weiyi; Zhang, Li; Song, Yu; Zhang, Rui; Carr, Scott V.; Walker, H.C.; Perring, Toby G.; Adroja, D.T.; Dai, Pengcheng
    Understanding the nature of the electronic nematic phase in iron pnictide superconductors is important for elucidating its impact on high-temperature superconductivity. Here we use transport and inelastic neutron scattering to study spin excitations and in-plane resistivity anisotropy in uniaxial pressure detwinned BaFe2As2 and SrFe2As2, the parent compounds of iron pnictide superconductors. While BaFe2As2 exhibits weakly first-order tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural and antiferromagnetic (AF) phase transitions below Ts>TN≈138K, SrFe2As2 has strongly coupled first-order structural and AF transitions below Ts=TN≈210K. We find that the direct signatures of the nematic phase persist to lower temperatures above the phase transition in the case of SrFe2As2 compared to BaFe2As2. Our findings support the conclusion that the strongly first-order nature of the magnetic transition in SrFe2As2 weakens the nematic phase and resistivity anisotropy in the system.