Two peer-approved experiments at SPring-8: the Fermi surface of Co-doped BaFe2As2 and the electron spin-density in the NbFe2 system

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Superconductivity and magnetism are two fascinating phenomena which can occur in materials. Our understanding of the mechanisms responsible is based on a quantum mechanical description of how the electrons in the material are behaving. It is possible to study these electrons by scattering of x-rays off them, much in the same way as snooker balls are scattered by each other. However, we need a very intense source of x-rays, known as a synchrotron.We have been awarded experimental time at a synchrotron in Japan for two separate studies of the electronic properties of two different materials. In the first study on a superconductor, we will investigate a particular aspect of the electronic behaviour, looking for a characteristic surface known as the Fermi surface, which may be crucial to explaining why these particular materials superconduct in the manner in which they do. In the second study, we propose to look at the nature of the magnetism in a compound whose behaviour has been found to be rather unusual. It is hoped that by studying how the magnetism is distributed, it might tell us something about gaps in our understanding.