Interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in EuFe2−xCoxAs2 studied by 57Fe and 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy

Abstract

The compound EuFe2−xCoxAs2 was investigated by means of 57Fe and 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy versus temperature (4.2–300 K) for x = 0 (parent), x = 0.34–0.39 (superconductor), and x = 0.58 (overdoped). It was found that the spin density wave (SDW) is suppressed by Co substitution; however, it survives in the region of superconductivity, but iron spectra exhibit some nonmagnetic components in the superconducting region. Europium orders magnetically, regardless of the cobalt concentration, with the spin reorientation from the a-axis in the parent compound toward the c-axis with increasing replacement of iron by cobalt. The reorientation takes place close to the a-c plane. Some trivalent europium appears in EuFe2−xCoxAs2 versus substitution due to the chemical pressure induced by Co atoms, and it experiences some transferred hyperfine field from Eu2+. Iron experiences some transferred field due to the europium ordering for substituted samples in the SDW and nonmagnetic state both, while the transferred field is undetectable in the parent compound. Superconductivity coexists with the 4f-europium magnetic order within the same volume. It seems that superconductivity has some filamentary character in EuFe2−xCoxAs2, and it is confined to the nonmagnetic component seen by the iron Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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