Preferred Spin Excitations in the Bilayer Iron-Based Superconductor CaK(Fe$_{0.96}$Ni$_{0.04}$)$_4$As$_4$ with Spin-Vortex Crystal Order

TL;DR

This study investigates the spin excitations in a bilayer iron-based superconductor with spin-vortex order, revealing low-energy resonance modes and the influence of spin-orbit coupling on magnetic excitations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the spin resonance modes and spin-orbit coupling effects in a bilayer iron-based superconductor with non-collinear magnetic order.

Findings

Identification of two spin resonance modes with odd and even L symmetries.

The odd mode is c-axis polarized and persists above T_c.

Spin anisotropy is similar to other magnetic orders in iron superconductors.

Abstract

The spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is a key to understand the magnetically driven superconductivity in iron-based superconductors, where both local and itinerant electrons are present and the orbital angular momentum is not completely quenched. Here, we report a neutron scattering study on the bilayer compound CaK(Fe$_{0.96}$Ni$_{0.04}$)$_4$As$_4$ with superconductivity coexisting with a non-collinear spin-vortex crystal magnetic order that preserves the tetragonal symmetry of Fe-Fe plane. In the superconducting state, two spin resonance modes with odd and even $L$ symmetries due to the bilayer coupling are found similar to the undoped compound CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ but at lower energies. Polarization analysis reveals that the odd mode is $c-$axis polarized, and the low-energy spin anisotropy can persist to the paramagnetic phase at high temperature, which closely resembles other systems with in-plane collinear and $c-$axis biaxial magnetic orders. These results provide the missing piece of the puzzle on the SOC effect in iron-pnictide superconductors, and also establish a common picture of $c-$axis preferred magnetic excitations below $T_c$ regardless of the details of magnetic pattern or lattice symmetry.