Magnetic Structure of a Superconductor (IMAGE)

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

Magnetic Structure of a Superconductor

Caption

Magnetic order in (Sr,Na)Fe2As2: The crystal structure contains planes of iron atoms (shown as red spheres). Half the iron sites have a magnetization (shown as red arrows), which points either up or down, but the other half have zero magnetization. This shows that the magnetism results from the constructive and destructive interference of two magnetization waves, a clear sign that the magnetic electrons are itinerant, which means they are not confined to a single site. The same electrons are responsible for the superconductivity at lower temperature.

Credit

Osborn <i>et. al</i>

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