Paper detail

Magneto-structural coupling and harmonic lattice dynamics in CaFe$_2$As$_2$ probed by Mössbauer spectroscopy

In this paper we present detailed Mössbauer spectroscopy study of structural and magnetic properties of the undoped parent compound CaFe$_2$As$_2$ single crystal. By fitting the temperature dependence of the hyperfine magnetic field we show that the magneto-structural phase transition is clearly first-order in nature and we also deduced the compressibility of our sample to be $1.67\times10^{-2}\,GPa^{-1}$. Within the Landau's theory of phase transition, we further argue that the observed phase transition may stem from the strong magneto-structural coupling effect. Temperature dependence of the Lamb-Mössbauer factor show that the paramagnetic phase and the antiferromagnetic phase exhibit similar lattice dynamics in high frequency modes with very close Debye temperatures, $Θ_D \sim$270\,K.