Persistent high-energy spin excitations in iron-pnictide superconductors

Ke-Jin Zhou (), Yao-Bo Huang, Claude Monney, Xi Dai, Vladimir N. Strocov, Nan-Lin Wang, Zhi-Guo Chen, Chenglin Zhang, Pengcheng Dai, Luc Patthey, Jeroen van den Brink, Hong Ding and Thorsten Schmitt ()
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Ke-Jin Zhou: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source
Yao-Bo Huang: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source
Claude Monney: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source
Xi Dai: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Vladimir N. Strocov: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source
Nan-Lin Wang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhi-Guo Chen: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chenglin Zhang: The University of Tennessee
Pengcheng Dai: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Luc Patthey: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source
Jeroen van den Brink: Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden
Hong Ding: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Thorsten Schmitt: Paul Scherrer Institut, Swiss Light Source

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Motivated by the premise that superconductivity in iron-based superconductors is unconventional and mediated by spin fluctuations, an intense research effort has been focused on characterizing the spin-excitation spectrum in the magnetically ordered parent phases of the Fe pnictides and chalcogenides. For these undoped materials, it is well established that the spin-excitation spectrum consists of sharp, highly dispersive magnons. The fate of these high-energy magnetic modes upon sizable doping with holes is hitherto unresolved. Here we demonstrate, using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, that optimally hole-doped superconducting Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 retains well-defined, dispersive high-energy modes of magnetic origin. These paramagnon modes are softer than, though as intense as, the magnons of undoped antiferromagnetic BaFe2As2. The persistence of spin excitations well into the superconducting phase suggests that the spin fluctuations in Fe-pnictide superconductors originate from a distinctly correlated spin state. This connects Fe pnictides to cuprates, for which, in spite of fundamental electronic structure differences, similar paramagnons are present.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2428

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