Abstract
The origin of the superconducting state in the recently discovered Fe-based materials1,2,3 is the subject of intense scrutiny. Neutron scattering4,5,6,7 and NMR (ref. 8) measurements have already demonstrated a strong correlation between magnetism and superconductivity. A central unanswered question concerns the nature of the normal-state spin fluctuations that may be responsible for the pairing. Here we present inelastic neutron scattering measurements from large single crystals of superconducting and non-superconducting Fe1+yTe1−xSex. These measurements indicate a spin fluctuation spectrum dominated by two-dimensional incommensurate excitations extending to energies greater than 250 meV. Most importantly, the spin excitations in Fe1+yTe1−xSex have four-fold symmetry about the (1, 0) wavevector (square-lattice (π,π) point). Moreover, the excitations are described by the identical wavevector and can be characterized by the same model as the normal-state spin excitations in the high-TC cuprates9,10,11. These results demonstrate commonality between the magnetism in these classes of materials, which perhaps extends to a common origin for superconductivity.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge discussions with D. Singh and T. Maier. This work was supported by the Scientific User Facilities Division and the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy.
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All authors made critical comments on the manuscript. M.D.L., A.D.C., E.A.G., S.E.N., M.B.S., D.L.A., T.G., G.J.M., C.C. and H.A.M. all contributed to data collection. A.S.S., M.A.M., B.C.S. and D.M. contributed to sample synthesis and characterization.
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Lumsden, M., Christianson, A., Goremychkin, E. et al. Evolution of spin excitations into the superconducting state in FeTe1−xSex. Nature Phys 6, 182–186 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1512
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1512
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