Hole doping by pressure on the 1111 pnictides CaFeAsF and SrFeAsF

Abstract

We determine the pressure phase diagram of the 1111 compounds CaFeAsF and SrFeAsF, up to 20 GPa and down to 4 K by electrical resistivity measurements and the change of structure up to 40 GPa at room temperature. The antiferromagnetic transition temperature, as determined by the derivative peak, shows a minimum at ~5 GPa (10 GPa) for the Ca (Sr) compound. For CaFeAsF, superconductivity appears at this minimum, coincident with the development of a previously reported monoclinic phase. For SrFeAsF, where the orthorhombic and the monoclinic phase were reported to coexist, superconductivity exists above P≥1 GPa. Both phase diagrams can be scaled by a shift of ~10 GPa pressure at which the volume of SrFeAsF and that of CaFeAsF at ambient pressure coincide. The difference of our phase diagram with that of electron-doped 1111 samples is accounted for by hole doping under pressure, which we verified through electron band structure calculations.