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Scaling between magnetic field and temperature in the high-temperature superconductor BaFe2(As1−xPx)2

Nature Physics volume 12, pages 916–919 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Many exotic metallic systems have a resistivity that varies linearly with temperature, and the physics behind this is thought to be connected to high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates and iron pnictides1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Although this phenomenon has attracted considerable attention, it is unclear how the relevant physics manifests in other transport properties, for example their response to an applied magnetic field. We report measurements of the high-field magnetoresistance of the iron pnictide superconductor BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 and find that it obeys an unusual scaling relationship between applied magnetic field and temperature, with a conversion factor given simply by the ratio of the Bohr magneton and the Boltzmann constant. This suggests that magnetic fields probe the same physics that gives rise to the T-linear resistivity, providing a new experimental clue to this long-standing puzzle.

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Figure 1: H − T scaling in BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 at x = 0.31.
Figure 2: Magnetotransport of BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 as a function of Γ near optimal Tc.
Figure 3: Magnetotransport of BaFe2(As1−xPx)2 at two values of x, far from optimal doping.

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Acknowledgements

I.M.H. and N.P.B. acknowledge support from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the US Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. T.H. was supported by the Quantum Materials FWP, US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231. A portion of this work was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4374. A portion of this work was completed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is supported through National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR 1157490 and the Department of Energy. R.D.M. acknowledges US DOE BES-Science of 100 Tesla. The authors extend their gratitude to the scientific and technical support staff of the NHMFL Pulsed Field Facility, particularly B. J. Ramshaw and the 100 Tesla operations team. The authors also thank S. Kivelson, P. Coleman, D. Maslov, A. Chubukov and P. Phillips for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Ian M. Hayes, Nicholas P. Breznay, Toni Helm, Philip J. W. Moll & James G. Analytis

  2. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Ian M. Hayes, Nicholas P. Breznay, Toni Helm & James G. Analytis

  3. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

    Ross D. McDonald

  4. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA

    Mark Wartenbe & Arkady Shekhter

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Contributions

I.M.H., J.G.A., A.S. and R.D.M. conceived the experiment and performed the analysis. I.M.H., T.H. and J.G.A. synthesized the samples. I.M.H., J.G.A., R.M.D., M.W., T.H. and N.P.B. performed the measurements at high magnetic fields. P.J.W.M. prepared the overdoped samples for transport measurements. All authors participated in the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to James G. Analytis.

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Hayes, I., McDonald, R., Breznay, N. et al. Scaling between magnetic field and temperature in the high-temperature superconductor BaFe2(As1−xPx)2. Nature Phys 12, 916–919 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3773

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