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Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 057007 (2010) [4 pages]

Control of the Competition between a Magnetic Phase and a Superconducting Phase in Cobalt-Doped and Nickel-Doped NaFeAs Using Electron Count

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Dinah R. Parker1, Matthew J. P. Smith1, Tom Lancaster2, Andrew J. Steele2, Isabel Franke2, Peter J. Baker3, Francis L. Pratt3, Michael J. Pitcher1, Stephen J. Blundell2,*, and Simon J. Clarke1,†
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR, United Kingdom
2Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
3ISIS Facility, STFC–Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom

Received 2 September 2009; published 5 February 2010

Using a combination of neutron, muon, and synchrotron techniques we show how the magnetic state in NaFeAs can be tuned into superconductivity by replacing Fe by either Co or Ni. The electron count is the dominant factor, since Ni doping has double the effect of Co doping for the same doping level. We follow the structural, magnetic, and superconducting properties as a function of doping to show how the superconducting state evolves, concluding that the addition of 0.1 electrons per Fe atom is sufficient to traverse the superconducting domain, and that magnetic order coexists with superconductivity at doping levels less than 0.025 electrons per Fe atom.

© 2010 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.057007
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.057007
PACS:
74.25.Ha, 74.62.-c, 74.90.+n, 76.75.+i

*s.blundell@physics.ox.ac.uk

simon.clarke@chem.ox.ac.uk