Interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in EuFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 studied by 57Fe and 151Eu M��ssbauer spectroscopy

The compound EuFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 was investigated by means of the 57Fe and 151Eu Moessbauer spectroscopy versus temperature (4.2 - 300 K) for x=0 (parent), x=0.34 - 0.39 (superconductor) and x=0.58 (overdoped). It was found that spin density wave (SDW) is suppressed by Co-substitution, however it survives in the region of superconductivity, but iron spectra exhibit some non-magnetic component in the superconducting region. Europium orders anti-ferromagnetically regardless of the Co concentration with the spin re-orientation from the a-axis in the parent compound toward c-axis with the increasing replacement of iron by cobalt. The re-orientation takes place close to the a-c plane. Some trivalent europium appears in EuFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 versus substitution due to the chemical pressure induced by Co-atoms and it experiences some transferred hyperfine field from Eu2+. Iron experiences some transferred field due to the europium ordering for substituted samples in the SDW and non-magnetic state both, while the transferred field is undetectable in the parent compound. Superconductivity coexists with the 4f-europium magnetic order within the same volume. It seems that superconductivity has some filamentary character in EuFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 and it is confined to the non-magnetic component seen by the iron Moessbauer spectroscopy.
13 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables