Suppression of spin density wave by isoelectronic substitution in

We have studied the effects of the isoelectronic substitution of Ru for Fe in polycrystalline samples of the spin density wave (SDW) material PrFeAsO. Crystal structures from powder X-ray diffraction at room temperature and transport properties from 2 to 300 K are reported. The SDW is completely suppressed upon Ru substitution. The distortion of the tetrahedral coordination environment of the transition metal site increases as the Ru concentration increases, which may be related to the absence of superconductivity above 2 K. Band structure calculations show that the larger size of Ru 4d orbitals is primarily responsible for the suppression of magnetism as Ru is substituted into the Fe layer. The experimental results indicate that long-ranged magnetic order of Pr moments is suppressed at Ru concentrations as low as 10%.     

New correlated electron physics from new materials

Many important advances in the physics of strongly correlated electron systems have been driven by the development of new materials: for instance the filled skutterudites MT₄X₁₂ (M=alkali metal, alkaline earth, lanthanide, or actinide; T=Fe, Ru, or Os; X=P, As, or Sb), certain lanthanide and actinide intermetallic compounds such as URu_2-xRe_xSi₂ and CeTIn₅ (T=Co, Rh, or Ir), and layered oxypnictides and related materials. These types of complex multinary d- and f-electron compounds have proven to be a vast reservoir of novel strongly correlated electron ground states and phenomena. In these materials, the occurrence of such a wide range of ground states and phenomena arises from a delicate interplay between competing interactions that can be tuned by partial or complete substitution of one element for another, as well as the application of pressure, and magnetic fields, resulting in rich and complex electronic phase diagrams in the hyperspace of temperature, chemical composition, pressure and magnetic field. It seems clear that this type of “materials driven physics” will continue to play a central role in the development of the field of strongly correlated electron systems in the future, through the discovery of new materials that exhibit unexpected phenomena and experiments on known materials in an effort to optimize their physical properties and test relevant theories.