Unified Phase Diagram for Iron-Based Superconductors

Tracking the nematicity in cuprate superconductors: a resistivity study under uniaxial pressure

Overshadowing the superconducting dome in hole-doped cuprates, the pseudogap state is still one of the mysteries that no consensus can be achieved. It has been suggested that the rotational symmetry is broken in this state and may result in a nematic phase transition, whose temperature seems to coincide with the onset temperature of the pseudogap stateT∗around optimal doping level, raising the question whether the pseudogap results from the establishment of the nematic order. Here we report results of resistivity measurements under uniaxial pressure on several hole-doped cuprates, where the normalized slope of the elastoresistivityζcan be obtained as illustrated in iron-based superconductors. The temperature dependence ofζalong particular lattice axis exhibits kink feature atT_kand shows Curie-Weiss-like behavior above it, which may suggest a spontaneous nematic transition. WhileT_kseems to be the same asT∗around the optimal doping and in the overdoped region, they become very different in underdoped La2-xSr_xCuO₄. Our results suggest that the nematic order, if indeed existing, is an electronic phase within the pseudogap state.

A temperature-modulated dilatometer by using a piezobender-based device

We report a new design of a temperature-modulated dilatometer, which obtains the linear thermal expansion coefficient by measuring the oscillating changes of the sample's length and temperature by using a piezobender and a thermocouple, respectively. Using an iron-based superconductor KFe₂As₂ as an example, we show that this device is able to measure thin samples with high resolutions at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. Despite its incapability of giving absolute values, the new dilatometer provides a high-resolution method to study many important physical properties in condensed matter physics, such as thermal and quantum phase transitions and vortex dynamics in the superconducting state. The prototype design of this device can be further improved in many aspects to meet particular requirements.

Evolution of the Nematic Susceptibility in LaFe_{1-x}Co_{x}AsO

We report a systematic elastoresistivity study on LaFe_{1-x}Co_{x}AsO single crystals, which have well separated structural and magnetic transition lines. All crystals show a Curie-Weiss-like nematic susceptibility in the tetragonal phase. The extracted nematic temperature is monotonically suppressed upon cobalt doping, and changes sign around the optimal doping level, indicating a possible nematic quantum critical point beneath the superconducting dome. The amplitude of the nematic susceptibility shows a peculiar double-peak feature. This could be explained by a combined effect of different contributions to the nematic susceptibility, which are amplified at separated doping levels of LaFe_{1-x}Co_{x}AsO.

Revealing fermionic quantum criticality from new Monte Carlo techniques

This review summarizes recent developments in the study of fermionic quantum criticality, focusing on new progress in numerical methodologies, especially quantum Monte Carlo methods, and insights that emerged from recently large-scale numerical simulations. Quantum critical phenomena in fermionic systems have attracted decades of extensive research efforts, partially lured by their exotic properties and potential technology applications, and partially awakened by the profound and universal fundamental principles that govern these quantum critical systems. Due to the complex and non-perturbative nature, these systems face the most difficult and challenging problems in the study of modern condensed matter physics, and many important fundamental problems remain open. Recently, new developments in model design and algorithm improvements enabled unbiased large-scale numerical solutions to be achieved in the close vicinity of these quantum critical points, which paves a new pathway towards achieving controlled conclusions through combined efforts of theoretical and numerical studies, as well as possible theoretical guidance for experiments in heavy-fermion compounds, Cu-based and Fe-based superconductors, ultra-cold fermionic atomic gas, twisted graphene layers, etc, where signatures of fermionic quantum criticality exist.

In-situ Electrochemical X-ray Diffraction: A Rigorous Method to Navigate within Phase Diagrams Reveals β-Fe1+x Se as Superconductor for All x

We report the precise postsynthetic control of the composition of β-Fe_1+x Se by electrochemistry with simultaneous tracking of the associated structural changes via in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. We access the full phase width of 0.01<x<0.04 and identify the superconducting state below 8 K, which in contrast to earlier reports is independent of the composition. However, in a second set of in situ X-ray diffraction experiments, we demonstrate that β-Fe_1+x Se forms a new phase in the presence of oxygen above a 100 °C which has the same anti-PbO type structure but is not superconducting down to 1.8 K. The latter process can be reversed electrochemically to reinstate the superconducting state. These observations exploit the exquisite control afforded by electrochemistry in contrast with classical approaches of chemical synthesis.

Itinerant quantum critical point with fermion pockets and hotspots

The present work summarizes major progress in research on the itinerant quantum critical point (QCP). The authors designed a model and developed quantum Monte Carlo simulation to examine itinerant QCPs generated by antiferromagnetic fluctuations. The model has immediate relevance to a wide range of strongly correlated systems, such as cuprate superconductors. Large system size and low temperature are comfortably accessed and quantum critical scaling relations are revealed with high accuracy. At the QCP, a finite anomalous dimension is observed, and fermions at hotspots evolve into a non-Fermi liquid. These results are being observed in an unbiased manner and they could bridge future developments both in analytical theory and in numerical simulation of itinerant QCPs.

Metallic quantum criticality is among the central themes in the understanding of correlated electronic systems, and converging results between analytical and numerical approaches are still under review. In this work, we develop a state-of-the-art large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulation technique and systematically investigate the itinerant quantum critical point on a 2D square lattice with antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations at wavevector Q=(π,π)—a problem that resembles the Fermi surface setup and low-energy antiferromagnetic fluctuations in high-Tc cuprates and other critical metals, which might be relevant to their non–Fermi-liquid behaviors. System sizes of 60×60×320 (L×L×Lτ) are comfortably accessed, and the quantum critical scaling behaviors are revealed with unprecedented high precision. We found that the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations introduce effective interactions among fermions and the fermions in return render the bare bosonic critical point into a different universality, different from both the bare Ising universality class and the Hertz–Mills–Moriya RPA prediction. At the quantum critical point, a finite anomalous dimension η∼0.125 is observed in the bosonic propagator, and fermions at hotspots evolve into a non-Fermi liquid. In the antiferromagnetically ordered metallic phase, fermion pockets are observed as the energy gap opens up at the hotspots. These results bridge the recent theoretical and numerical developments in metallic quantum criticality and can serve as the stepping stone toward final understanding of the 2D correlated fermions interacting with gapless critical excitations.

Universal understanding of nematicity and magnetism in Fe-pnictides and FeSe

By employing the mean field and variational Monte Carlo methods, we investigate the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) based on a realistic five-orbital Hubbard model in which an off-site Coulomb interaction [Formula: see text] is explicitly included. Our results demonstrate that [Formula: see text] plays an important role in stabilizing the nematic state in both Fe-pnictides and FeSe. Below a critical [Formula: see text], the model is shown to lie in the striped antiferromagnetic ground state, and an increasing of [Formula: see text] leads to an energy degeneracy between different magnetic configurations. This finding provides a natural explanation for the magnetism in Fe-pnictides with relatively small [Formula: see text], and more importantly, unveils the microscopic mechanism behind the absence of magnetic order in FeSe with larger [Formula: see text]. Simultaneously, the common anisotropy of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] orbital occupations in different magnetic configurations accounts for the similar orbital ordering observed in Fe-pnictides and FeSe. In addition, the unusual smallness of the Fermi surfaces in FeSe can be obtained when the renormalization effect of [Formula: see text] on the band structure is taken into account.

Unconventional Antiferromagnetic Quantum Critical Point in Ba(Fe_{0.97}Cr_{0.03})_{2}(As_{1-x}P_{x})_{2}

We have systematically studied physical properties of Ba(Fe_{0.97}Cr_{0.03})_{2}(As_{1-x}P_{x})_{2}, where superconductivity in BaFe_{2}(As_{1-x}P_{x})_{2} is fully suppressed by just 3% of Cr substitution of Fe. A quantum critical point is revealed at x∼0.42, where non-Fermi-liquid behaviors similar to those in BaFe_{2}(As_{1-x}P_{x})_{2} are observed. Neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering measurements suggest that the quantum critical point is associated with the antiferromagnetic order, which is not of conventional spin-density-wave type as evidenced by the ω/T scaling of spin excitations. On the other hand, no divergence of low-temperature nematic susceptibility is observed when x is decreased to 0.42 from higher doping level, demonstrating that there are no nematic quantum critical fluctuations. Our results suggest that non-Fermi-liquid behaviors in iron-based superconductors can be solely resulted from the antiferromagnetic quantum critical fluctuations, which cast doubts on the role of nematic fluctuations played in the normal-state properties in iron-based superconductors.

Emergence of superconductivity from fully incoherent normal state in an iron-based superconductor (Ba0.6K0.4)Fe2As2

In unconventional superconductors, it is generally believed that understanding the physical properties of the normal state is a pre-requisite for understanding the superconductivity mechanism. In conventional superconductors like niobium or lead, the normal state is a Fermi liquid with a well-defined Fermi surface and well-defined quasipartcles along the Fermi surface. Superconductivity is realized in this case by the Fermi surface instability in the superconducting state and the formation and condensation of the electron pairs (Cooper pairing). The high temperature cuprate superconductors, on the other hand, represent another extreme case that superconductivity can be realized in the underdoped region where there is neither well-defined Fermi surface due to the pseudogap formation nor quasiparticles near the antinodal regions in the normal state. Here we report a novel scenario that superconductivity is realized in a system with well-defined Fermi surface but without quasiparticles along the Fermi surface in the normal state. High resolution laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements have been performed on an optimally-doped iron-based superconductor (Ba_0.6K_0.4)Fe₂As₂. We find that, while sharp superconducting coherence peaks emerge in the superconducting state on the hole-like Fermi surface sheets, no quasiparticle peak is present in the normal state. Its electronic behaviours deviate strongly from a Fermi liquid system. The superconducting gap of such a system exhibits an unusual temperature dependence that it is nearly a constant in the superconducting state and abruptly closes at T_c. These observations have provided a new platform to study unconventional superconductivity in a non-Fermi liquid system.

Hedgehog Spin-Vortex Crystal Antiferromagnetic Quantum Criticality in CaK(Fe_{1-x}Ni_{x})_{4}As_{4} Revealed by NMR

Two ordering states, antiferromagnetism and nematicity, have been observed in most iron-based superconductors (SCs). In contrast to those SCs, the newly discovered SC CaK(Fe_{1-x}Ni_{x})_{4}As_{4} exhibits an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state, called hedgehog spin-vortex crystal (SVC) structure, without nematic order, providing the opportunity for the investigation into the relationship between spin fluctuations and SC without any effects of nematic fluctuations. Our ^{75}As nuclear magnetic resonance studies on CaK(Fe_{1-x}Ni_{x})_{4}As_{4} (0≤x≤0.049) revealed that CaKFe_{4}As_{4} is located close to a hidden hedgehog SVC AFM quantum-critical point (QCP). The magnetic QCP without nematicity in CaK(Fe_{1-x}Ni_{x})_{4}As_{4} highlights the close connection of spin fluctuations and superconductivity in iron-based SCs. The advantage of stoichiometric composition also makes CaKFe_{4}As_{4} an ideal platform for further detailed investigation of the relationship between magnetic QCP and superconductivity in iron-based SCs without disorder effects.

Neutron Spin Resonance in the 112-Type Iron-Based Superconductor

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the low-energy spin excitations of the 112-type iron pnictide Ca_{0.82}La_{0.18}Fe_{0.96}Ni_{0.04}As_{2} with bulk superconductivity below T_{c}=22  K. A two-dimensional spin resonance mode is found around E=11  meV, where the resonance energy is almost temperature independent and linearly scales with T_{c} along with other iron-based superconductors. Polarized neutron analysis reveals the resonance is nearly isotropic in spin space without any L modulations. Because of the unique monoclinic structure with additional zigzag arsenic chains, the As 4p orbitals contribute to a three-dimensional hole pocket around the Γ point and an extra electron pocket at the X point. Our results suggest that the energy and momentum distribution of the spin resonance does not directly respond to the k_{z} dependence of the fermiology, and the spin resonance intrinsically is a spin-1 mode from singlet-triplet excitations of the Cooper pairs in the case of weak spin-orbital coupling.