Spatial inhomogeneity in RFeAsO1-xFx (R= Pr, Nd) determined from rare-earth crystal-field excitations

E. A. Goremychkin, R. Osborn, C. H. Wang, M. D. Lumsden, M. A. McGuire, A. S. Sefat, B. C. Sales, D. Mandrus, H. M. Rønnow, Y. Su, A. D. Christianson

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11 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report inelastic neutron-scattering measurements of crystal-field transitions in PrFeAsO, PrFeAsO0.87F0.13, and NdFeAsO 0.85F0.15. Doping with fluorine produces additional crystal-field excitations, providing evidence that there are two distinct charge environments around the rare-earth ions, with probabilities that are consistent with a random distribution of dopants on the oxygen sites. The 4f electrons of the Pr3+ and Nd3+ ions have nonmagnetic and magnetic ground states, respectively, indicating that the enhancement of Tc compared to LaFeAsO1-xFx is not due to rare-earth magnetism.

Original languageEnglish
Article number212505
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume83
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 27 2011

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