Enhancement of magnetic stripe order in iron-pnictide superconductors from the interaction between conduction electrons and magnetic impurities.

Recent experimental studies have revealed several unexpected properties of Mn-doped BaFe(2)As(2). These include extension of the stripelike magnetic (π,0) phase to high temperatures above a critical Mn concentration only, the presence of diffusive and weakly temperature dependent magnetic (π,π) checkerboard scattering, and an apparent absent structural distortion from tetragonal to orthorhombic symmetry. Here, we study the effects of magnetic impurities both below and above the Néel transition temperature within a real-space five-band model appropriate to the iron pnictides. We show how these experimental findings can be explained by a cooperative behavior of the magnetic impurities and the conduction electrons mediating the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interactions between them.