Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026
08:55
Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Lattice distortion and magnetic quantum phase transition in CeFeAs(1-x)P(x)O
Clarina de la Cruz1, W Z Hu, Shiliang Li
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|April 7, 2010
Summary
Replacing arsenic with phosphorus in CeFeAs(1-x)P(x)O suppresses magnetic order and structural distortion, indicating a quantum critical point. Pnictogen height influences electronic properties and may be key to superconductivity.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Solid State Chemistry
Background:
- Cerium fluoroarsenide (CeFeAsO) and fluoro-phosphide (CeFePO) compounds exhibit complex magnetic and structural phase transitions.
- Understanding the interplay between structure, magnetism, and superconductivity in these materials is crucial for developing new electronic devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the structural and magnetic phase diagram of CeFeAs(1-x)P(x)O.
- To determine the influence of phosphorus substitution on the electronic and magnetic properties of CeFeAsO.
- To explore the role of pnictogen height in superconductivity.
Main Methods:
- Neutron diffraction was employed to analyze the crystal structure and magnetic ordering.
- Systematic variation of phosphorus content (x) allowed for the mapping of the phase diagram.
Main Results:
- A simultaneous suppression of antiferromagnetic (AFM) order and orthorhombic distortion was observed near x=0.4.
- This suppression suggests the proximity to a magnetic quantum critical point.
- Structural analysis confirmed that pnictogen height is a critical parameter controlling electronic and magnetic properties.
Conclusions:
- The substitution of phosphorus for arsenic in CeFeAs(1-x)P(x)O tunes its magnetic and structural properties.
- The identified quantum critical point and the role of pnictogen height offer insights into electron pairing mechanisms.
- These findings are significant for the fundamental understanding and potential application of related superconducting materials.
More Related Videos
09:06Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
07:42Optimizing Magnetic Force Microscopy Resolution and Sensitivity to Visualize Nanoscale Magnetic Domains
Published on: July 20, 2022
Related Concept Videos
01:31Ferromagnetism
Materials like iron, nickel, and cobalt consist of magnetic domains, within which the magnetic dipoles are arranged parallel to each other. The magnetic dipoles are rigidly aligned in the same direction within a domain by quantum mechanical coupling among the atoms. This coupling is so strong that even thermal agitation at room temperature cannot break it. The result is that each domain has a net dipole moment. However, some materials have weaker coupling, and are ferromagnetic at lower...
01:27Lattice Energies of Ionic Crystals
Lattice energy represents the energy released when gaseous cations and anions combine to form an ionic solid, reflecting the strength of electrostatic interactions within the crystal. This process is fundamentally governed by Coulombic attraction between oppositely charged ions, where the potential energy varies inversely with the interionic distance and directly with the product of ionic charges. As ions approach one another, the electrostatic energy becomes increasingly negative, indicating a...
02:54Trends in Lattice Energy: Ion Size and Charge
An ionic compound is stable because of the electrostatic attraction between its positive and negative ions. The lattice energy of a compound is a measure of the strength of this attraction. The lattice energy (ΔHlattice) of an ionic compound is defined as the energy required to separate one mole of the solid into its component gaseous ions. For the ionic solid sodium chloride, the lattice energy is the enthalpy change of the process:
02:42Valence Bond Theory
Coordination compounds and complexes exhibit different colors, geometries, and magnetic behavior, depending on the metal atom/ion and ligands from which they are composed. In an attempt to explain the bonding and structure of coordination complexes, Linus Pauling proposed the valence bond theory, or VBT, using the concepts of hybridization and the overlapping of the atomic orbitals. According to VBT, the central metal atom or ion (Lewis acid) hybridizes to provide empty orbitals of suitable...
01:12Fermi Level Dynamics
The vacuum level denotes the energy threshold required for an electron to escape from a material surface. It is usually positioned above the conduction band of a semiconductor and acts as a benchmark for comparing electron energies within various materials.
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...
01:23Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
In the absence of an external magnetic field, nuclear spin states are degenerate and randomly oriented. When a magnetic field is applied, the spins begin to precess and orient themselves along (lower energy) or against (higher energy) the direction of the field. At equilibrium, a slight excess population of spins exists in the lower energy state. Because the direction of the magnetic field is fixed as the z-axis, the precessing magnetic moments are randomly oriented around the z-axis. This...