1. Electronic Phase Separation in the Slightly Underdoped Iron Pnictide Superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2
- Author
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Park, J.T., Inosov, D.S., Niedermayer, C., Sun, G.L., Haug, D., Christensen, Niels Bech, Dinnebier, R., Boris, A.V., Drew, A.J., Schulz, L., Shapoval, T., Wolff, U., Neu, V., Yang, X.P., Lin, C.T., Keimer, B., and Hinkov, V.
- Subjects
Superledende materialer til energisektoren ,Condensed Matter::Superconductivity ,Superconducting materials for the energy sector ,Materials research ,Condensed Matter::Strongly Correlated Electrons ,Materialeforskning - Abstract
Here we present a combined study of the slightly underdoped novel pnictide superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2 by means of x-ray powder diffraction, neutron scattering, muon-spin rotation (µSR), and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Static antiferromagnetic order sets in below Tm70 K as inferred from the neutron scattering and zero-field-µSR data. Transverse-field µSR below Tc shows a coexistence of magnetically ordered and nonmagnetic states, which is also confirmed by MFM imaging. We explain such coexistence by electronic phase separation into antiferromagnetic and superconducting- or normal-state regions on a lateral scale of several tens of nanometers. Our findings indicate that such mesoscopic phase separation can be considered an intrinsic property of some iron pnictide superconductors.
- Published
- 2009