Neutron spin resonance in the 112-type iron-based superconductor

Abstract

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the low-energy spin excitations of 112-type iron pnictide Ca${}_{0.82}$La${}_{0.18}$Fe${}_{0.96}$Ni${}_{0.04}$As${}_2$ with bulk superconductivity below $T_c=22$ K. A two-dimensional spin resonance mode is found around $E=$ 11 meV, where the resonance energy is almost temperature independent and linearly scales with $T_c$ along with other iron-based superconductors. Polarized neutron analysis reveals the resonance is nearly isotropic in spin space without any $L$ modulations. Due to the unique monoclinic structure with additional zigzag arsenic chains, the As $4p$ orbitals contribute to a three-dimensional hole pocket around $\Gamma$ point and an extra electron pocket at $X$ point. Our results suggest that the energy and momentum distribution of spin resonance does not directly response to the $k_z$ dependence of fermiology, and the spin resonance intrinsically is a spin-1 mode from singlet-triplet excitations of the Cooper pairs in the case of weak spin-orbital coupling.

9 pages, 8 figures, with supplementary materials