Effect of uniaxial strain on the structural and magnetic phase transitions in BaFe 2As 2

Chetan Dhital, Z. Yamani, Wei Tian, J. Zeretsky, A. S. Sefat, Ziqiang Wang, R. J. Birgeneau, Stephen D. Wilson

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Abstract

We report neutron scattering experiments probing the influence of uniaxial strain on both the magnetic and structural order parameters in the parent iron pnictide compound, BaFe 2As 2. Our data show that modest strain fields along the in-plane orthorhombic b axis can affect significant changes in phase behavior simultaneous to the removal of structural twinning effects. As a result, we demonstrate in BaFe 2As 2 samples detwinned via uniaxial strain that the in-plane C 4 symmetry is broken by both the structural lattice distortion and long-range spin ordering at temperatures far above the nominal (strain-free) phase transition temperatures. Surprising changes in the magnetic order parameter of this system under relatively small strain fields also suggest the inherent presence of magnetic domains fluctuating above the strain-free ordering temperature in this material.

Original languageEnglish
Article number087001
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume108
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 22 2012

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences1056625

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