Superconductivity and Crystal Structures of (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2 (x = 0 - 1)

Abstract

We report on doping dependencies of structural parameters and superconducting transition temperatures in the solid solution (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2. As the main effect of doping on the crystal structure, we find linear decreasing As-Fe-As bond angles and Fe-Fe distances, equivalent to an elongation of the FeAs4 tetrahedra along [001]. The structural changes are intimately coupled to the electronic states at the Fermi level, because the most relevant Fe-3dx2-y2 orbitals are strongly affected by the As-Fe-As bond angle. Superconductivity is present over the whole doping range in (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2 with a maximum Tc of 38 K at x ~ 0.4. The superconducting transitions in the orthorhombic compounds (Ba0.9K0.1)Fe2As2 (Tc ~ 3 K) and (Ba0.8K0.2)Fe2As2 (Tc ~ 25 K) is strong evidence for the coexistence of superconductivity with the structurally distorted and potentially magnetically ordered state in the BaFe2As2 family of iron arsenide superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, text revised, one figure added, accepted for publication in Angew. Chem. Int. E