Magnetic phase diagram of the iron pnictides in the presence of spin-orbit coupling: Frustration between $C_2$ and $C_4$ magnetic phases

Abstract

We investigate the impact of spin anisotropic interactions, promoted by spin-orbit coupling, on the magnetic phase diagram of the iron-based superconductors. Three distinct magnetic phases with Bragg peaks at $(\pi ,0)$ and $(0,\pi )$ are possible in these systems: one $C_2$ (i.e. orthorhombic) symmetric stripe magnetic phase and two $C_4$ (i.e. tetragonal) symmetric magnetic phases. While the spin anisotropic interactions allow the magnetic moments to point in any direction in the $C_2$ phase, they restrict the possible moment orientations in the $C_4$ phases. As a result, an interesting scenario arises in which the spin anisotropic interactions favor a $C_2$ phase, but the other spin isotropic interactions favor a $C_4$ phase. We study this frustration via both mean-field and renormalization-group approaches. We find that, to lift this frustration, a rich magnetic landscape emerges well below the magnetic transition temperature, with novel $C_2$, $C_4$, and mixed $C_2$-$C_4$ phases. Near the putative magnetic quantum critical point, spin anisotropies promote a stable Gaussian fixed point in the renormalization-group flow, which is absent in the spin isotropic case, and is associated with a near-degeneracy between $C_2$ and $C_4$ phases. We argue that this frustration is the reason why most $C_4$ phases in the iron pnictides only appear inside the $C_2$ phase, and discuss additional manifestations of this frustration in the phase diagrams of these materials.

21 pages, 19 figures, published version

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• Intertwined spin-orbital coupled orders in the iron-based superconductors
• Observation of Two Collapsed Phases in CaRbFe4As4
• Competing Electronic Phases near the Onset of Superconductivity in Hole-doped SrFe2As2
• Muon spin rotation and infrared spectroscopy study of $B{a}_{1-x}N{a}_{x}F{e}_{2}A{s}_2$
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• Interplay of stripe and double-Q magnetism with superconductivity in ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{K}}_x{\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{As}}_2$ under the influence of magnetic fields