Magnetic Precursor of the Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Fe-Ladder Compounds

The pressure effects on the antiferromagentic orders in iron-based ladder compounds CsFe2Se3 and BaFe2S3 have been studied using neutron diffraction. With identical crystal structure and similar magnetic structures, the two compounds exhibit highly contrasting magnetic behaviors under moderate external pressures. In CsFe2Se3 the ladders are brought much closer to each other by pressure, but the stripe-type magnetic order shows no observable change. In contrast, the stripe order in BaFe2S3 undergoes a quantum phase transition where an abrupt increase of Néel temperature by more than 50% occurs at about 1 GPa, accompanied by a jump in the ordered moment. With its spin structure unchanged, BaFe2S3 enters an enhanced magnetic phase that bears the characteristics of an orbital selective Mott phase, which is the true neighbor of superconductivity emerging at higher pressures.