Evolution from Itinerant Antiferromagnet to Unconventional Superconductor with Fluorine Doping in La(O_{1-x}F_{x})FeAs Revealed by ^{75}As and ^{139}La Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

TL;DR

This study uses ^{75}As and ^{139}La NMR to investigate how fluorine doping transforms LaOFeAs from an antiferromagnetic state to an unconventional superconductor, revealing changes in spin dynamics and electronic structure.

Contribution

It provides detailed NMR evidence of the evolution of magnetic and superconducting properties with fluorine doping in LaOFeAs, highlighting the link between spin fluctuations and superconductivity.

Findings

Undoped LaOFeAs shows antiferromagnetic order at 142 K.

F doping suppresses AFM order and induces spin fluctuations or pseudogap behavior.

Superconductivity exhibits line-nodes with no coherence peak in 1/T_1 measurements.

Abstract

We report experimental results of ^{75}As and ^{139}La nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the iron-based layered La(O_{1-x}F_{x})FeAs (x= 0.0, 0.04 and 0.11) system. In the undoped LaOFeAs, 1/T_1 of ^{139}La exhibits a distinct peak at T_N ~ 142 K below which the spectra become broadened due to the internal magnetic field attributed to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering. In the 4% F-doped sample, 1/T_1T exhibits a Curie-Weiss temperature dependence down to 30 K, suggesting the development of AFM spin fluctuations with decreasing temperature. In the 11% F-doped sample, in contrast, pseudogap behavior is observed in 1/T_1T both at the ^{75}As and ^{139}La site with a gap value of ~172 K. The spin dynamics vary markedly with F doping, which is ascribed to the Fermi-surface structure. As for the superconducting properties for the 4% and 11% F-doped samples, 1/T_1 in both compounds does not exhibit a coherence peak just below T_c and follows a T^3 dependence at low temperatures, which suggests unconventional superconductivity with line-nodes. We discuss similarities and differences between La(O_{1-x}F_{x})FeAs and cuprates, and also discuss the relationship between spin dynamics and superconductivity on the basis of F doping dependence of T_c and 1/T_1.