Pressure-induced phase coexistence in BaFe_1.8Co _0.2As₂

We report high-pressure powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements of overdoped BaFe_1.8Co_0.2As₂ under quasi-hydrostatic pressure up to 40.1 GPa. Our results indicate that a tetragonal (T) to collapsed tetragonal (CT) phase transition occurs at 16.8 GPa and the two phase coexist until 30 GPa, which has not been previously observed in iron arsenide compounds. Both the lattice parameters a and c show discontinuous change for the T and CT phases. The decrease of the c lattice parameter is as large as 12.2% owing to the uniaxial pressure effect. The axial ratio c/a of the T phase exhibits similar features to the other 122-type compounds below 16.8 GPa, whereas there is a very small increase with increasing pressure in the two phase coexistence region. Because of the relationship between the axial ratio and superconductivity, the abnormal expansion may be related to the sudden increase of the strength of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations.