Effect of magnetic frustration on nematicity and superconductivity in iron chalcogenides

Over the past few years iron chalcogenides have been intensively studied as part of the wider family of iron-based superconductors, with many intriguing results reported so far on intercalated and monolayer FeSe. Nevertheless, bulk FeSe itself remains an unusual case when compared with pnictogen-bas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2015-11, Vol.11 (11), p.953-958
Main Authors: Glasbrenner, J. K., Mazin, I. I., Jeschke, Harald O., Hirschfeld, P. J., Fernandes, R. M., Valentí, Roser
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/119/1003
639/766/119/997
Atomic
Chalcogenides
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensed Matter Physics
Distortion
Frustration
Iron
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Nematic
Optical and Plasma Physics
Physics
Superconductivity
Superconductors
Theoretical
Transition temperature
Transition temperatures
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Summary:Over the past few years iron chalcogenides have been intensively studied as part of the wider family of iron-based superconductors, with many intriguing results reported so far on intercalated and monolayer FeSe. Nevertheless, bulk FeSe itself remains an unusual case when compared with pnictogen-based iron superconductors, and may hold clues to understanding the more exotic derivatives of the FeSe system. The FeSe phase diagram is distinct from the pnictides: the orthorhombic distortion, which is likely to be of a ‘spin-nematic’ nature in numerous pnictides, is not accompanied by magnetic order in FeSe, and the superconducting transition temperature T c rises significantly with pressure before decreasing. Here we show that the magnetic interactions in FeSe, as opposed to most pnictides, demonstrate an unusual and unanticipated frustration, which suppresses magnetic (but not nematic) order, triggers ferro-orbital order in the nematic phase and can naturally explain the non-monotonic pressure dependence of the superconducting critical temperature T c ( P ). Due to its structural simplicity, iron selenide is an attractive system for understanding the electronic mechanism for superconductivity in iron-based materials. A theoretical study now examines the influence of magnetic frustration in this system.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/nphys3434