Chemical control of interstitial iron leading to superconductivity in Fe1+xTe0.7Se0.3

Efrain E. Rodriguez, Christopher Stock, Ping-Yen Hsieh, Nicholas P. Butch, Johnpierre Paglione, Mark A. Green
2011 Chemical Science  
The superconducting series, Fe(Te,Se), has a complex structural and magnetic phase diagram that is dependent on composition and occupancy of a secondary interstitial Fe site. In this letter, we show that superconductivity in Fe1+xTe0.7Se0.3 can be enhanced by topotactic deintercalation of the interstitial iron, demonstrating the competing roles of the two iron sites. Neutron diffraction reveals a flattening of the Fe(Te,Se)4 tetrahedron on Fe removal of iron and an increase in negative thermal
more » ... xpansion within the ab plane that correlates with increased lattice strain. Inelastic neutron scattering shows that a gapped excitation at 6 meV, evolves into gapless paramagnetic scattering with increasing iron; similar to the fluctuations observed for non-superconducting Fe1+xTe itself.
doi:10.1039/c1sc00114k fatcat:mvgfaerdfzeb3izwhwcrq3pdwq