High field nuclear magnetic resonance in transition metal substituted BaFe2As2

Abstract

We report high field 75As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on Co and Cu substituted BaFe2As2 single crystals displaying same structural/magnetic transition T0≃128 K. From our anisotropy studies in the paramagnetic state, we strikingly found virtually identical quadrupolar splitting and consequently the quadrupole frequency νQ≃2.57(1) MHz for both compounds, despite the claim that each Cu delivers 2 extra 3d electrons in BaFe2As2 compared to Co substitution. These results allow us to conclude that a subtle change in the crystallographic structure, particularly in the Fe–As tetrahedra, must be the most probable tuning parameter to determine T0 in this class of superconductors rather than electronic doping. Furthermore, our NMR data around T0 suggest coexistence of tetragonal/paramagnetic and orthorhombic/antiferromagnetic phases between the structural and the spin density wave magnetic phase transitions, similarly to what was reported for K-doped BaFe2As2 [Urbano et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 107001 (2010)].