Experimental Evidence for Static Charge Density Waves in Iron Oxypnictides

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Feb 3;118(5):055701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.055701. Epub 2017 Jan 31.

Abstract

In this Letter we report high-resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscope analysis of Mn-substituted LaFeAsO samples, demonstrating that a static incommensurate modulated structure develops across the low-temperature orthorhombic phase, whose modulation wave vector depends on the Mn content. The incommensurate structural distortion is likely originating from a charge-density-wave instability, a periodic modulation of the density of conduction electrons associated with a modulation of the atomic positions. Our results add a new component in the physics of Fe-based superconductors, indicating that the density wave ordering is charge driven.