Frustration-driven C ₄ symmetric order in a naturally-heterostructured superconductor Sr₂VO₃FeAs.

Abstract

A subtle balance between competing interactions in iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) can be tipped by additional interfacial interactions in a heterostructure, often inducing exotic phases with unprecedented properties. Particularly when the proximity-coupled layer is magnetically active, rich phase diagrams are expected in FeSCs, but this has not been explored yet. Here, using high-accuracy ⁷⁵As and ⁵¹V nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, we investigate an electronic phase that emerges in the FeAs layer below T ₀ ~ 155 K of Sr₂VO₃FeAs, a naturally assembled heterostructure of an FeSC and a Mott-insulating vanadium oxide. We find that frustration of the otherwise dominant Fe stripe and V Neel fluctuations via interfacial coupling induces a charge/orbital order in the FeAs layers, without either static magnetism or broken C ₄ symmetry, while suppressing the Neel antiferromagnetism in the SrVO₃ layers. These findings demonstrate that the magnetic proximity coupling stabilizes a hidden order in FeSCs, which may also apply to other strongly correlated heterostructures.