A Novel Large Moment Antiferromagnetic Order in K0.8Fe1.6Se2 Superconductor

TL;DR

This paper reports a unique large-moment antiferromagnetic order in K0.8Fe1.6Se2, a superconductor with a high transition temperature and an unusually high magnetic ordering temperature, challenging existing understanding of magnetic-superconducting coexistence.

Contribution

It introduces a new type of large-moment antiferromagnetic order in a superconductor with unprecedented high magnetic ordering temperature, expanding knowledge of magnetic states in superconductors.

Findings

Superconductivity in K0.8Fe1.6Se2 with Tc above 30 K.

Discovery of a large magnetic moment (3.31 μB/Fe) antiferromagnetic order.

Magnetic ordering temperature (TN) of 559 K, unusually high for a superconductor.

Abstract

The discovery of cuprate high Tc superconductors has inspired searching for unconventional su- perconductors in magnetic materials. A successful recipe has been to suppress long-range order in a magnetic parent compound by doping or high pressure to drive the material towards a quantum critical point, which is replicated in recent discovery of iron-based high TC superconductors. The long-range magnetic order coexisting with superconductivity has either a small magnetic moment or low ordering temperature in all previously established examples. Here we report an exception to this rule in the recently discovered potassium iron selenide. The superconducting composition is identified as the iron vacancy ordered K0.8Fe1.6Se2 with Tc above 30 K. A novel large moment 3.31 {\mu}B/Fe antiferromagnetic order which conforms to the tetragonal crystal symmetry has the unprecedentedly high an ordering temperature TN = 559 K for a bulk superconductor. Staggeredly polarized electronic density of states thus is suspected, which would stimulate further investigation into superconductivity in a strong spin-exchange field under new circumstance.