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Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 117006 (2009) [4 pages]

Electronic Phase Separation in the Slightly Underdoped Iron Pnictide Superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2

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J. T. Park1, D. S. Inosov1, Ch. Niedermayer2, G. L. Sun1, D. Haug1, N. B. Christensen2,3,4, R. Dinnebier1, A. V. Boris1, A. J. Drew5,6, L. Schulz5, T. Shapoval7, U. Wolff7, V. Neu7, Xiaoping Yang1, C. T. Lin1, B. Keimer1, and V. Hinkov1,*
1Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstraße 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
2Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETHZ & PSI, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
3Materials Research Department, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
4Nano-Science Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
5Department of Physics and Fribourg Center for Nanomaterials, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 3, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
6Physics Department, Queen Mary, University of London, London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom
7IFW Dresden, Institute for Metallic Materials, P.O. Box 270116, D-01171 Dresden, Germany

Received 14 November 2008; published 20 March 2009

Here we present a combined study of the slightly underdoped novel pnictide superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2 by means of x-ray powder diffraction, neutron scattering, muon-spin rotation (μSR), and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Static antiferromagnetic order sets in below Tm≈70  K as inferred from the neutron scattering and zero-field-μSR data. Transverse-field μSR below Tc shows a coexistence of magnetically ordered and nonmagnetic states, which is also confirmed by MFM imaging. We explain such coexistence by electronic phase separation into antiferromagnetic and superconducting- or normal-state regions on a lateral scale of several tens of nanometers. Our findings indicate that such mesoscopic phase separation can be considered an intrinsic property of some iron pnictide superconductors.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.117006
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.117006
PACS:
74.70.−b, 25.40.Dn, 68.37.Rt, 76.75.+i

*Corresponding author.

v.hinkov@fkf.mpg.de

 
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