Superconducting properties of thes±-wave state: Fe-based superconductors

Direct Probing of a Large Spin-Orbit Coupling in the FeSe Superconducting Monolayer on STO

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is a fundamental physical interaction, which describes how the electrons' spin couples to their orbital motion. It is the source of a vast variety of fascinating phenomena in nanostructures. Although in most theoretical descriptions of high-temperature superconductivity SOC has been neglected, including this interaction can, in principle, revise the microscopic picture. Here by preforming energy-, momentum-, and spin-resolved spectroscopy experiments we demonstrate that while probing the dynamic charge response of the FeSe monolayer on strontium titanate, a prototype two-dimensional high-temperature superconductor using electrons, the scattering cross-section is spin dependent. We unravel the origin of the observed phenomenon and show that SOC in this two-dimensional superconductor is strong. We anticipate that such a strong SOC can have several consequences on the electronic structures and may compete with other pairing scenarios and be crucial for the mechanism of superconductivity.

Unconventional Bulk Superconductivity in YFe_{2}Ge_{2} Single Crystals

Sharp superconducting transition anomalies observed in a new generation of single crystals establish that bulk superconductivity is intrinsic to high purity YFe_{2}Ge_{2}. Low temperature heat capacity measurements suggest a disorder and field dependent residual Sommerfeld coefficient, consistent with disorder-induced in-gap states as expected for a sign-changing order parameter. The sevenfold reduction in disorder scattering in these new crystals to residual resistivities ≃0.45  μΩ cm was achieved using a new liquid transport growth technique, paving the way for multiprobe experiments investigating the normal and superconducting states of YFe_{2}Ge_{2}.

Finite temperature effects in quantum systems with competing scalar orders

The study of the competition or coexistence of different ground states in many-body systems is an exciting and actual topic of research, both experimentally and theoretically. Quantum fluctuations of a given phase can suppress or enhance another phase depending on the nature of the coupling between the order parameters, their dynamics and the dimensionality of the system. The zero temperature phase diagrams of systems with competing scalar order parameters with quartic and bilinear coupling terms have been previously studied for the cases of a zero temperature bicritical point and of coexisting orders. In this work, we apply theMatsubara summationtechnique from finite temperature quantum field theory to introduce the effects of thermal fluctuations on the effective potential of these systems. This is essential to make contact with experiments. We consider two and three-dimensional materials characterized by a Lorentz invariant quantum critical theory, i.e., with dynamic critical exponentz= 1, such that time and space scale in the same way. We obtain that in both cases, thermal fluctuations lead to weak first-order temperature phase transitions, at which coexisting phases arising from quantum corrections become unstable. We show that above this critical temperature (Tc), the system presents scaling behavior consistent with that approaching a quantum critical point. Below the transition the specific heat has a thermally activated contribution with a gap related to the size of the domains of the ordered phases. We obtain thatTcdecreases as a function of the distance to the zero temperature classical bicritical point (ZTCBP) in the coexistence region, implying that in our approach, the system attains the highestTcabove the fine tuned value of this ZTCBP.

Analyzing scanning tunneling spectroscopy for Fe-based superconductors and extracting sample density of states

We extract the density of states (DOS) from the scanning tunneling spectroscopy data for Ba_1-x K _x Fe₂As₂ superconductor. The obtained sample DOS is composed of two ordinary s-wave types from the band at [Formula: see text] point and a linear-like DOS within the s-wave gap from the band at M point in the Brillouin zone, and is consistent with the corresponding data from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We clarify that the major peak of the tunneling conductance is not related to the DOS but is rather the effect of nonequilibrium coherent tunneling including all coherent spins in the tip and sample.

Classifying Induced Superconductivity in Atomically Thin Dirac-Cone Materials

Recently, Kayyalha et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2019, 122, 047003) reported on the anomalous enhancement of the self-field critical currents (Ic (sf, T)) at low temperatures in Nb/BiSbTeSe2-nanoribbon/Nb Josephson junctions. The enhancement was attributed to the low-energy Andreev-bound states arising from the winding of the electronic wave function around the circumference of the topological insulator BiSbTeSe2 nanoribbon. It should be noted that identical enhancement in Ic (sf, T) and in the upper critical field (Bc2 (T)) in approximately the same reduced temperatures, were reported by several research groups in atomically thin junctions based on a variety of Dirac-cone materials (DCM) earlier. The analysis shows that in all these S/DCM/S systems, the enhancement is due to a new superconducting band opening. Taking into account that several intrinsic superconductors also exhibit the effect of new superconducting band(s) opening when sample thickness becomes thinner than the out-of-plane coherence length (c (0)), we reaffirm our previous proposal that there is a new phenomenon of additional superconducting band(s) opening in atomically thin films.

Tunnelling spectroscopy of gate-induced superconductivity in MoS2

The ability to gate-induce superconductivity by electrostatic charge accumulation is a recent breakthrough in physics and nanoelectronics. With the exception of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ interfaces, experiments on gate-induced superconductors have been largely confined to resistance measurements, which provide very limited information about the superconducting state. Here, we explore gate-induced superconductivity in MoS₂ by performing tunnelling spectroscopy to determine the energy-dependent density of states (DOS) for different levels of electron density n. In the superconducting state, the DOS is strongly suppressed at energy smaller than the gap Δ, which is maximum (Δ ~2 meV) for n of ~1 × 10¹⁴ cm^-2 and decreases monotonously for larger n. A perpendicular magnetic field B generates states at E < Δ that fill the gap, but a 20% DOS suppression of superconducting origin unexpectedly persists much above the transport critical field. Conversely, an in-plane field up to 10 T leaves the DOS entirely unchanged. Our measurements exclude that the superconducting state in MoS₂ is fully gapped and reveal the presence of a DOS that vanishes linearly with energy, the explanation of which requires going beyond a conventional, purely phonon-driven Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer mechanism.

Gap Symmetry of the Heavy Fermion Superconductor CeCu_{2}Si_{2} at Ambient Pressure

Recent observations of two nodeless gaps in superconducting CeCu_{2}Si_{2} have raised intensive debates on its exact gap symmetry, while a satisfactory theoretical basis is still lacking. Here we propose a phenomenological approach to calculate the superconducting gap functions, taking into consideration both the realistic Fermi surface topology and the intra- and interband quantum critical scatterings. Our calculations yield a nodeless s^{±}-wave solution in the presence of strong interband pairing interaction, in good agreement with experiments. This provides a possible basis for understanding the superconducting gap symmetry of CeCu_{2}Si_{2} at ambient pressure and indicates the potential importance of multiple Fermi surfaces and interband pairing interaction in understanding heavy fermion superconductivity.

Effects of disorder induced by heavy-ion irradiation on (Ba1-x K x )Fe2As2 single crystals, within the three-band Eliashberg s± wave model

One of the open issues concerning iron-based superconductors is whether the s± wave model is able to account for the overall effects of impurity scattering, including the low rate of decrease of the critical temperature with the impurity concentration. Here we investigate Ba_1-x K _x Fe₂As₂ crystals where disorder is introduced by Au-ion irradiation. Critical temperature, T _c , and London penetration depth, λ _L , were measured by a microwave resonator technique, for different values of the irradiation fluence. We compared experimental data with calculations made on the basis of the three-band Eliashberg equations, suitably accounting for the impurity scattering. We show that this approach is able to explain in a consistent way the effects of disorder both on T _c and on λ _L (T), within the s± wave model. In particular, a change of curvature in the low-temperature λ _L (T) curves for the most irradiated crystals is fairly well reproduced.