Tetragonal-to-Orthorhombic Structural Phase Transition at 90 K in the Superconductor Fe1.01Se

T. M. McQueen, A. J. Williams, P. W. Stephens, J. Tao, Y. Zhu, V. Ksenofontov, F. Casper, C. Felser, and R. J. Cava
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 057002 – Published 30 July 2009

Abstract

In this Letter we show that superconducting Fe1.01Se undergoes a structural transition at 90 K from a tetragonal to an orthorhombic phase but that nonsuperconducting Fe1.03Se does not. High resolution electron microscopy at low temperatures further reveals an unexpected additional modulation of the crystal structure of the superconducting phase that involves displacements of the Fe atoms, and that the nonsuperconducting composition shows a different, complex nanometer-scale structural modulation. Finally, we show that magnetism is not the driving force for the phase transition in the superconducting phase.

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  • Received 7 May 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.057002

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

T. M. McQueen1, A. J. Williams1, P. W. Stephens2, J. Tao3, Y. Zhu3, V. Ksenofontov4, F. Casper4, C. Felser4, and R. J. Cava1

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2Department of Physics & Astronomy, SUNY, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA
  • 3Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
  • 4Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Staudinger Weg 9, D-55099 Mainz, Germany

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Vol. 103, Iss. 5 — 31 July 2009

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