Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor

Abstract Understanding how renormalized quasiparticles emerge in strongly correlated electron materials provides a challenge for both experiment and theory. It has been predicted that distinctive spin and orbital screening mechanisms drive this process in multiorbital materials with strong Coulomb a...

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Main Authors: Ming-Hua Chang, Steffen Backes, Donghui Lu, Nicolas Gauthier, Makoto Hashimoto, Guan-Yu Chen, Hai-Hu Wen, Sung-Kwan Mo, Zhi-Xun Shen, Roser Valentí, Heike Pfau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Communications Materials
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00881-5
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author Ming-Hua Chang
Steffen Backes
Donghui Lu
Nicolas Gauthier
Makoto Hashimoto
Guan-Yu Chen
Hai-Hu Wen
Sung-Kwan Mo
Zhi-Xun Shen
Roser Valentí
Heike Pfau
author_facet Ming-Hua Chang
Steffen Backes
Donghui Lu
Nicolas Gauthier
Makoto Hashimoto
Guan-Yu Chen
Hai-Hu Wen
Sung-Kwan Mo
Zhi-Xun Shen
Roser Valentí
Heike Pfau
author_sort Ming-Hua Chang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Understanding how renormalized quasiparticles emerge in strongly correlated electron materials provides a challenge for both experiment and theory. It has been predicted that distinctive spin and orbital screening mechanisms drive this process in multiorbital materials with strong Coulomb and Hund’s interactions. Here, we provide the experimental evidence of both mechanisms from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on RbFe2As2. We observe that the emergence of low-energy Fe 3d x y quasiparticles below 90K coincides with spin screening. A second process changes the spectral weight at high energies up to room temperature. Supported by theoretical calculations we attribute it to orbital screening of Fe 3d atomic excitations. These two cascading screening processes drive the temperature evolution from a bad metal to a correlated Fermi liquid.
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spelling doaj-art-6cb7a79a8bb94f7a898a726a6ce3bba32025-08-20T03:05:06ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Materials2662-44432025-07-01611910.1038/s43246-025-00881-5Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductorMing-Hua Chang0Steffen Backes1Donghui Lu2Nicolas Gauthier3Makoto Hashimoto4Guan-Yu Chen5Hai-Hu Wen6Sung-Kwan Mo7Zhi-Xun Shen8Roser Valentí9Heike Pfau10Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State UniversityRIKEN iTHEMS, WakoStanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryInstitut National de la Recherche Scientifique—Energie Matériaux TélécommunicationsStanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryCenter for Superconducting Physics and Materials, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing UniversityCenter for Superconducting Physics and Materials, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing UniversityAdvanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryStanford Institute of Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryInstitut für Theoretische Physik, Goethe-Universität FrankfurtDepartment of Physics, The Pennsylvania State UniversityAbstract Understanding how renormalized quasiparticles emerge in strongly correlated electron materials provides a challenge for both experiment and theory. It has been predicted that distinctive spin and orbital screening mechanisms drive this process in multiorbital materials with strong Coulomb and Hund’s interactions. Here, we provide the experimental evidence of both mechanisms from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on RbFe2As2. We observe that the emergence of low-energy Fe 3d x y quasiparticles below 90K coincides with spin screening. A second process changes the spectral weight at high energies up to room temperature. Supported by theoretical calculations we attribute it to orbital screening of Fe 3d atomic excitations. These two cascading screening processes drive the temperature evolution from a bad metal to a correlated Fermi liquid.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00881-5
spellingShingle Ming-Hua Chang
Steffen Backes
Donghui Lu
Nicolas Gauthier
Makoto Hashimoto
Guan-Yu Chen
Hai-Hu Wen
Sung-Kwan Mo
Zhi-Xun Shen
Roser Valentí
Heike Pfau
Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
Communications Materials
title Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
title_full Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
title_fullStr Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
title_full_unstemmed Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
title_short Observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron-based superconductor
title_sort observation of two cascading screening processes in an iron based superconductor
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00881-5
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