Direct visualization of phase separation between superconducting and nematic domains in Co-doped CaFe2 As2 close to a first-order phase transition

Thumbnail Image
Date
2018-01-01
Authors
Fente, Antón
Correa-Orellana, Alexandre
Böhmer, Anna
Kreyssig, Andreas
Ran, S.
Bud’ko, Sergey
Canfield, Paul
Mompean, Federico
García-Hernández, Mar
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Person
Canfield, Paul
Distinguished Professor
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Physics and Astronomy
Physics and astronomy are basic natural sciences which attempt to describe and provide an understanding of both our world and our universe. Physics serves as the underpinning of many different disciplines including the other natural sciences and technological areas.
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Ames National LaboratoryPhysics and Astronomy
Abstract

We show that biaxial strain induces alternating tetragonal superconducting and orthorhombic nematic domains in Co-substituted CaFe2As2. We use atomic force, magnetic force, and scanning tunneling microscopy to identify the domains and characterize their properties, finding in particular that tetragonal superconducting domains are very elongated, more than several tens of micrometers long and about 30 nm wide; have the same Tc as unstrained samples; and hold vortices in a magnetic field. Thus, biaxial strain produces a phase-separated state, where each phase is equivalent to what is found on either side of the first-order phase transition between antiferromagnetic orthorhombic and superconducting tetragonal phases found in unstrained samples when changing Co concentration. Having such alternating superconducting domains separated by normal conducting domains with sizes of the order of the coherence length opens opportunities to build Josephson junction networks or vortex pinning arrays and suggests that first-order quantum phase transitions lead to nanometric-size phase separation under the influence of strain.

Comments
Description
Keywords
Citation
DOI
Copyright
Collections