Manifestations of nematic degrees of freedom in the magnetic, elastic, and superconducting properties of the iron pnictides

Abstract

We investigate how emergent nematic order and nematic fluctuations affect several macroscopic properties of both the normal and superconducting states of the iron pnictides. Due to its magnetic origin, long-range nematic order enhances magnetic fluctuations, leaving distinctive signatures in the spin-lattice relaxation rate, the spin-spin correlation function, and the uniform magnetic susceptibility. This enhancement of magnetic excitations is also manifested in the electronic spectral function, where a pseudogap can open at the hot spots of the Fermi surface. In the nematic phase, electrons are scattered by magnetic fluctuations that are anisotropic in momentum space, giving rise to a non-zero resistivity anisotropy whose sign changes between electron-doped and hole-doped compounds. We also show that due to the magneto-elastic coupling, nematic fluctuations soften the shear modulus in the normal state, but harden it in the superconducting state. The latter effect is an indirect consequence of the competition between magnetism and superconductivity, and also causes a suppression of the orthorhombic distortion below T_{c}. We also demonstrate that ferro-orbital fluctuations enhance the nematic susceptibility, cooperatively promoting an electronic tetragonal symmetry-breaking. Finally, we argue that T_{c} in the iron pnictides might be enhanced due to nematic fluctuations of magnetic origin.

17 pages, revised version to appear in Superconductor Science Technology focus issue on Fe-based superconductors

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Cited by in corpus (52)

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• Monolayer FeSe on SrTiO${}_3$
• Pair-Density-Wave Superconducting States and Electronic Liquid Crystal Phases
• Thermopower as sensitive probe of electronic nematicity in iron pnictides
• Muon spin rotation study of magnetism and superconductivity in Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 single crystals
• Enhancing magnetic stripe order in iron pnictides by RKKY exchange interactions
• Emergence of Orbital Nematicity in the Tetragonal Phase of BaFe${}_2$(As${}_{1-x}$P${}_x$)${}_2$
• Nematic quantum criticality in an Fe-based superconductor revealed by strain-tuning
• NMR evidence for static local nematicity and its cooperative interplay with low-energy magnetic fluctuations in FeSe under pressure
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• Resistivity and magnetoresistance of FeSe single crystals under Helium-gas pressure
• Spin-orbital interplay and topology in the nematic phase of iron pnictides
• Effect of nematic order on the low-energy spin fluctuations in detwinned BaFe${}_{1.935}$Ni${}_{0.065}$As${}_2$
• Spin excitations in the nematic phase and the metallic stripe spin-density wave phase of iron pnictides
• Effects of Lifshitz Transition on Charge Transport in Magnetic Phases of Fe-Based Superconductors
• Rotational symmetry breaking at the incommensurate charge-density-wave transition in Ba(Ni,Co)${}_2$(As,P)${}_2$: Possible nematic phase induced by charge/orbital fluctuations
• The evolution of antiferromagnetic susceptibility to uniaxial pressure in Ba(Fe{1-x}Co{x})2As2
• Short-range nematic fluctuations in Sr1-xNaxFe2As2 superconductors
• NMR study of nematic spin fluctuations in a detwinned single crystal of underdoped Ba(Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$
• Spin fluctuation anisotropy as a probe of orbital-selective hole-electron quasiparticle excitations in detwinned Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2
• Iron-based superconductors: tales from the nuclei
• Preferred Spin Excitations in the Bilayer Iron-Based Superconductor CaK(Fe${}_{0.96}$Ni${}_{0.04}$)${}_4$As${}_4$ with Spin-Vortex Crystal Order
• Phase stability and large in-plane resistivity in the 112-type iron-based superconductor Ca${}_{1-x}$La${}_x$FeAs${}_2$
• Intertwined magnetic and nematic orders in semiconducting KFe${}_{0.8}$Ag${}_{1.2}$Te${}_2$
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• Elastocaloric signatures of symmetric and antisymmetric strain-tuning of quadrupolar and magnetic phases in DyB2C2
• Diverging Nematic Susceptibility, Physical Meaning of T* scale, and Pseudogap in the Spin Fermion Model for Pnictides
• Symmetry-mixed bound-state order: extended degeneracy of $(d+ig)$-superconductivity in ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2\mathrm{Ru}{\mathrm{O}}_4$
• Optical observation of spin-density-wave fluctuations in Ba122 iron-based superconductors
• Orbital Nematic Order and Interplay with Magnetism in the Two-Orbital Hubbard Model
• Simultaneous Vanishing of the Nematic Electronic State and the Structural Orthorhombicity in NaFe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$As Single Crystals
• Thermodynamic electric quadrupole moments of nematic phases from first-principles calculation
• Study of antiferromagnetic and nematic phase transitions in $BaF{e}_2(A{s}_{1-x}{P}_x{)}_2$ by AC micro-calorimetry and SQUID magnetometry
• Revisiting the phase diagram of LaFe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$AsO on single crystals by thermodynamic methods
• Piezoresistivity as a Fingerprint of Ferroaxial Transitions
• Strain-induced spin-nematic state and nematic susceptibility arising from $2\times 2$ Fe clusters in KFe${}_{0.8}$Ag${}_{1.2}$Te${}_2$
• Unconventional non-Fermi liquid state caused by nematic criticality in cuprates
• Ab-initio investigation of lattice distortions in response to van der Waals interactions in FeSe
• Defect-induced electronic smectic state at the surface of nematic materials
• Nematic fluctuations in the non-superconducting iron pnictide BaFe${}_{1.9-x}$Ni${}_{0.1}$Cr${}_x$As${}_2$
• Theories for charge-driven nematicity in kagome metals
• Elastoresistivity of heavily hole doped 122 iron pnictides superconductors
• Magnetoelastic coupling and charge correlation lengths in a twin domain of Ba(Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$ ($x=0.047$): A high-resolution X-ray diffraction study
• Mn-induced magnetic symmetry breaking and its correlation with the metal-insulator transition in bilayered Sr3(Ru1-xMnx)2O7
• Nonequilibrium control of kagome metals
• Absence of nematic instability in LiFeAs
• Acoustic lattice instabilities at the magneto-structural transition in Fe${}_{1.057(7)}$Te
• Strong correlation between $H$-linear magnetoresistance and strange metal in FeSe superconductor
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• Feedback of non-local $d_{xy}$ nematicity on the magnetic anisotropy in FeSe