The effect of Cr impurity to superconductivity in electron-doped BaFe2-xNixAs2

We use transport and magnetization measurements to study the effect of Cr-doping to the phase diagram of the electron-doped superconducting BaFe2-xNixAs2 iron pnictides. In principle, adding Cr to electron-doped BaFe2-xNixAs2 should be equivalent to the effect of hole-doping. However, we find that Cr doping suppresses superconductivity via impurity effect, while not affecting the normal state resistivity above 100 K. We establish the phase diagram of Cr-doped BaFe2-x-yNixCryAs2 iron pnictides, and demonstrate that Cr-doping near optimal superconductivity restore the long-range antiferromagnetic order suppressed by superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Longitudinal spin excitations and magnetic anisotropy in antiferromagnetically ordered BaFe2As2

We report on a spin-polarized inelastic neutron scattering study of spin waves in the antiferromagnetically ordered state of BaFe2As2. Three distinct excitation components are identified, with spins fluctuating along the c-axis, perpendicular to the ordering direction in the ab-plane, and parallel to the ordering direction. While the first two "transverse" components can be described by a linear spin-wave theory with magnetic anisotropy and inter-layer coupling, the third "longitudinal" component is generically incompatible with the local moment picture. It points towards a contribution of itinerant electrons to the magnetism already in the parent compound of this family of Fe-based superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, plus Supplemental Materia

Nematic crossover in BaFe2_2As2_2 under uniaxial stress

Raman scattering can detect spontaneous point-group symmetry breaking without resorting to single-domain samples. Here we use this technique to study $\mathrm{BaFe_2As_2}$, the parent compound of the "122" Fe-based superconductors. We show that an applied compression along the Fe-Fe direction, which is commonly used to produce untwinned orthorhombic samples, changes the structural phase transition at temperature $T_{\mathrm{s}}$ into a crossover that spans a considerable temperature range above $T_{\mathrm{s}}$. Even in crystals that are not subject to any applied force, a distribution of substantial residual stress remains, which may explain phenomena that are seemingly indicative of symmetry breaking above $T_{\mathrm{s}}$. Our results are consistent with an onset of spontaneous nematicity only below $T_{\mathrm{s}}$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure