Origin of Orthorhombic Transition, Magnetic Transition, and Shear Modulus Softening in Iron Pnictide Superconductors: Analysis based on the Orbital Fluctuation Theory

Abstract

The main features in iron-pnictide superconductors are summarized as (i) the orthorhombic transition accompanied by remarkable softening of shear modulus, (ii) high-Tc superconductivity close to the orthorhombic phase, and (iii) stripe-type magnetic order induced by orthorhombicity. To present a unified explanation for them, we analyze the multiorbital Hubbard-Holstein model with Fe-ion optical phonons based on the orbital fluctuation theory. In the random-phase-approximation (RPA), a small electron-phonon coupling constant ($\lambda ~ 0.2$) is enough to produce large orbital (=charge quadrupole) fluctuations. The most divergent susceptibility is the $O_{xz}$-antiferro-quadrupole (AFQ) susceptibility, which causes the s-wave superconductivity without sign reversal (s_{++}-wave state). At the same time, divergent development of $O_{x2-y2}$-ferro-quadrupole (FQ) susceptibility is brought by the "two-orbiton process" with respect to the AFQ fluctuations, which is absent in the RPA. The derived FQ fluctuations cause the softening of $C_{66}$ shear modulus, and its long-range-order not only triggers the orthorhombic structure transition, but also induces the instability of stripe-type antiferro-magnetic state. In other words, the condensation of composite bosons made of two orbitons gives rise to the FQ order and structure transition. The theoretically predicted multi-orbital-criticality presents a unified explanation for abovementioned features of iron pnictide superconductors.