Observation of anion-stoichiometry phase separation in Fe(Te,Se) film

Abstract

Nanostructure control is of fundamental and technological importance because various properties such as vortex pinning in superconductors are determined by the nanostructure. While the nanostructure in superconducting oxides is well controlled, the nanostructure control of iron-based superconductors is required. The nanostructure has not yet been well controlled even in Fe(Te,Se) with the simplest structure among Fe-based superconductors because the anion may be non-stoichiometric and anionic substitution is possible. In this study, we observed the compositional inhomogeneity originating from phase separation in Fe(Te,Se) films, which were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The films deposited at lower temperature do not show nanoscale compositional inhomogeneity. On the other hand, the high-temperature deposited films contain an inhomogeneous anion distribution with the size of ∼8 nm due to phase separation. The spacing of the compositional inhomogeneity is ∼16 nm. This structure obtained by phase separation is expected to be an effective pinning center in high magnetic fields after further optimization. Thus, the method of nanostructure control other than nanocomposite formation in oxides is demonstrated for Fe(Te,Se).