Science Daily August 30, 2018
By performing pressure simulations within density functional theory for the family of iron-based superconductors an international team of researchers (Germany, USA – Iowa State University) predicts that in these systems the appearance of two consecutive half-collapsed tetragonal transitions at pressures Pc1and Pc2. They identify clear trends of critical pressures and discuss the relevance of the collapsed phases in connection to magnetism and superconductivity. Not only does this study have implications for properties of magnetism and superconductivity, it may have much wider application in room-temperature elasticity… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
This figure shows (a) Cations of alkali (1+) and alkaline-earth (2+) elements, as well as divalent Eu, together with their ionic radii, and (b) The 122 and (c) 1144 structures of iron pnictides. Possible Fe magnetic orders are shown in (d) stripe order and (e) “hedgehog” or spin-vortex order. Credit: Ames Laboratory