We report systematic angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments using different photon polarizations and experimental geometries and find that the doping evolution of the normal state of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 deviates significantly from the predictions of a rigid band model. The data reveal a nonmonotonic dependence upon doping of key quantities such as band filling, bandwidth of the electron pocket, and quasiparticle coherence. Our analysis suggests that the observed phenomenology and the inapplicability of the rigid band model in Co-doped Ba122 are due to electronic correlations, and not to the either the strength of the impurity potential, or self-energy effects due to impurity scattering. Our findings indicate that the effects of doping in pnictides are much more complicated than currently believed. More generally, they indicate that a deep understanding of the evolution of the electronic properties of the normal state, which requires an understanding of the doping process, remains elusive even for the 122 iron-pnictides, which are viewed as the least correlated of the high-TC unconventional superconductors.

We report systematic temperature- and doping-dependent measurements of the Fe3s core-level photoemission spectra in the normal state of superconducting Sr(Fe1-xCox)2As2. The analysis of the Fe3s spectrum provides an element-specific determination of the mean value of the magnitude of the Fe spin moment measured on the fast (10-16-10-15s) timescale of the photoemission process. The data reveal the ubiquitous presence in the normal state of Fe spin moments with magnitude fluctuating on short timescales. The data reveal a significant reduction of the magnitude of the effective Fe spin moment on going from the parent to the optimal doped compound. The doping dependence of the magnitude of the spin moment at higher doping level is less clear, being either constant, or even nonmonotonic, depending on temperature. This phenomenology indicates the importance of the interaction between spin and itinerant degrees of freedom in shaping the properties of the normal state. These findings reaffirm the complexity of the normal state of 122 Fe-pnictides, which are typically viewed as the least correlated of the high-temperature unconventional superconductors.

The integration of magnetic material with semiconductors has been fertile ground for fundamental science as well as of great practical interest toward the seamless integration of information processing and storage. We create van der Waals heterostructures formed by an ultrathin ferromagnetic semiconductor CrI₃ and a monolayer of WSe₂. We observe unprecedented control of the spin and valley pseudospin in WSe₂, where we detect a large magnetic exchange field of nearly 13 T and rapid switching of the WSe₂ valley splitting and polarization via flipping of the CrI₃ magnetization. The WSe₂ photoluminescence intensity strongly depends on the relative alignment between photoexcited spins in WSe₂ and the CrI₃ magnetization, because of ultrafast spin-dependent charge hopping across the heterostructure interface. The photoluminescence detection of valley pseudospin provides a simple and sensitive method to probe the intriguing domain dynamics in the ultrathin magnet, as well as the rich spin interactions within the heterostructure.

Single crystals of (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B, some reaching ∼6×8×8mm3 in volume, are grown out of Fe-(Nd, Ce) flux. This crystal growth method allows for large (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B single crystals to be synthesized using a simple flux growth procedure. Chemical and structural analyses of the crystals indicate that (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B forms a solid solution until at least x=0.38 with a Vegard-like variation of the lattice constants with x. Refinements of single crystal neutron diffraction data indicate that Ce has a slight site preference (7:3) for the 4g rare earth site over the 4f site. Magnetization measurements at 300 K show only small decreases with increasing Ce content in saturation magnetization (Ms) and anisotropy field (HA), and Curie temperature (TC). First principles calculations are carried out to understand the effect of Ce substitution on the electronic and magnetic properties. For a multitude of applications, it is expected that the advantage of incorporating lower-cost and more abundant Ce will outweigh the small adverse effects on magnetic properties. Ce-substituted Nd2Fe14B is therefore a potential high-performance permanent magnet material with substantially reduced Nd content.