Single crystals of superconducting BaFe$_{1.8}$Co$_{0.2}$As$_2$ were exposed to neutron irradiation in a fission reactor. The introduced defects decrease the superconducting transition temperature (by about 0.3 K) and the upper critical field anisotropy (e.g. from 2.8 to 2.5 at 22 K) and enhance the critical current densities by a factor of up to about 3. These changes are discussed in the context of similar experiments on other superconducting materials.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have an absolute advantage over other types of single photon detectors except the low operating temperature. Therefore, many efforts have been devoted to find high-temperature superconducting materials that are suitable for preparing SNSPDs. Copper-based and MgB2 ultra-thin superconducting nanowires have been already reported. However, the transport properties of iron-based ultra-thin superconducting nanowires have not been studied. In this work, a 10 nm thick 200 nm wide 30 μm long high quality superconducting nanowire was fabricated f…
Here we report an optical investigation in the terahertz region of a 40 nm ultrathin BaFe$_{1.84}$Co$_{0.16}$As$_2$ superconducting film with superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ = 17.5 K. A detailed analysis of the combined reflectance and transmittance measurements showed that the optical properties of the superconducting system can be described in terms of a two-band, two-gap model. The zero temperature value of the large gap $Δ_B$, which seems to follow a BCS-like behavior, results to be $Δ_B$(0) = 17 cm$^{-1}$. For the small gap, for which $Δ_A$(0) = 8 cm$^{-1}$, the temperature d…
We use polarized inelastic neutron scattering to study low-energy spin excitations and their spatial anisotropy in electron-overdoped superconducting BaFe$_{1.85}$Ni$_{0.15}$As$_{2}$ ($T_c=14$ K). In the normal state, the imaginary part of the dynamic susceptibility, $χ^{\prime\prime}(Q,ω)$, at the antiferromagnetic (AF) wave vector $Q=(0.5,0.5,1)$ increases linearly with energy for $E\le 13$ meV. Upon entering the superconducting state, a spin gap opens below $E\approx 3$ meV and a broad neutron spin resonance appears at $E\approx 7$ meV. Our careful neutron polarization analysis reveals that…
We examine theoretically the superconducting state of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$, an isovalent doping 122 iron pnictide superconductor. We construct a three dimensional ten orbital model from first principles band calculation, and investigate the superconducting gap within the spin fluctuation mediated pairing mechanism. The gap is basically $s\pm$, where the gap changes its sign between electron and hole Fermi surfaces, but three dimensional nodal structures appear in the largely warped hole Fermi surface having strong $Z^2/XZ/YZ$ orbital character. The present result, together with our pr…
Temperature and fluence dependence of the 1.55-eV optical transient reflectivity in BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ was measured and analysed in the low and high excitation density limit. The effective magnitude of the superconducting gap of $\sim 5$ meV obtained from the low-fluence-data bottleneck model fit is consistent with the ARPES results for the $γ$-hole Fermi surface. The superconducting-state nonthermal optical destruction energy was determined from the fluence dependent data. The in-plane optical destruction energy scales well with T$_{\mathrm{c}}^{2}$ and is found to be similar…
We present a study of the superconducting gap structure in the iron-pnictide series BaFe2(As1-xPx)2. By measuring the variation of the specific heat as a function of temperature and magnetic field we are able to determine the number and Fermi surface location of the nodes in the superconducting gap. In particular, from measurements of the variation of the specific heat as the magnetic field is rotated in the ab plane of the sample we conclude that the nodes are in the [110] directions. Then from a quantitative analysis of the temperature and field dependence of the specific heat we further con…
The use of piezoelectric substrates enables a dynamic observation of strain dependent properties of functional materials. Based on studies with La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 we extended this approach to the iron arsenic superconductors represented by BaFe2-xCoxAs2 to investigate strain driven changes in detail. We demonstrate that epitaxial thin films can be prepared on (001)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.72Ti0.28O3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The structural as well as the electric properties of the grown films were characterized in detail. A reversible shift of the superconducting transition of 0.44 K for …
We investigate the in-plane anisotropy of Fe 3d orbitals occurring in a wide temperature and composition range of BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 system. By employing the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, the lifting of degeneracy in dxz and dyz orbitals at the Brillouin zone corners can be obtained as a measure of the orbital anisotropy. In the underdoped regime, it starts to evolve on cooling from high temperatures above both antiferromagnetic and orthorhombic transitions. With increasing x, it well survives into the superconducting regime, but gradually gets suppressed and finally disappears aroun…
We measure the transport properties of mechanically strained single crystals of BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ over a wide range of $x$. The Néel transition is extremely sensitive to stress and this sensitivity increases as optimal doping is approached, even though the transition itself is strongly suppressed. Furthermore, we observe significant changes in the superconducting transition temperature with applied strain, which mirror changes as a function of the composition $x$. These experiments are a direct illustration of the intimate coupling between different degrees of freedom in iron…
We use polarized inelastic neutron scattering to show that the neutron spin resonance below $T_c$ in superconducting BaFe$_{1.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$As$_2$ ($T_c=20$ K) is purely magnetic in origin. Our analysis further reveals that the resonance peak near 7~meV only occurs for the planar response. This challenges the common perception that the spin resonance in the pnictides is an isotropic triplet excited state of the singlet Cooper pairs, as our results imply that only the $S_{001}=\pm1$ components of the triplet are involved.
We use neutron spectroscopy to determine the nature of the magnetic excitations in superconducting BaFe$_{1.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$As$_{2}$ ($T_{c}=20$ K). Above $T_{c}$ the excitations are gapless and centered at the commensurate antiferromagnetic wave vector of the parent compound, while the intensity exhibits a sinusoidal modulation along the c-axis. As the superconducting state is entered a spin gap gradually opens, whose magnitude tracks the $T$-dependence of the superconducting gap observed by angle resolved photoemission. Both the spin gap and magnetic resonance energies are temperature \textit{a…
Superconducting and normal state transport properties in iron pnictides are sensitive to disorder and impurity scattering. By investigation of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films with varying Co concentration, we demonstrate that in the dirty limit the superconducting dome in the electronic phase diagram of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 shifts towards lower doping concentrations, which differs significantly from observations in single crystals. We show that especially in the underdoped regime superconducting transition temperatures higher than 27 K are possible.
The superconducting fluctuations well inside the normal state of Fe-based superconductors were experimentally studied through the in-plane paraconductivity in several high-quality optimally-doped BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$ crystals. These measurements were performed in magnetic fields with amplitudes up to 14 T, and different orientations relative to the crystals c axis (0, 53 and 90 degrees). The results allowed a stringent check of the applicability of a recently proposed Ginzburg-Landau approach for the fluctuation electrical conductivity of 3D anisotropic materials in presence of finite appl…
We report comprehensive temperature and doping-dependences of the Raman scattering spectra for $\mathrm{BaFe_{2}}(\mathrm{As}_{1-x}\mathrm{P}_{x}\mathrm{)_{2}}$ ($x =$ 0, 0.07, 0.24, 0.32, and 0.38), focusing on the nematic fluctuation and the superconducting responses. With increasing $x$, the bare nematic transition temperature estimated from the Raman spectra reaches $T =$ 0 K at the optimal doping, which indicates a quantum critical point (QCP) at this composition. In the superconducting compositions, in addition to the pair breaking peaks observed in the $A_{\mathrm{1g}}$ and $B_{\mathrm{…
Epitaxial growth of Fe-based superconductors such as Co-doped SrFe$_2$As$_2$ (SrFe$_2$As$_2$:Co) was reported recently, but has still insufficient properties for device application because they have rough surfaces and are decomposed by reactions with water vapor in an ambient atmosphere. This letter reports that epitaxial films of Co-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ grown at 700 oC show the onset superconducting transition tempearture of 20 K. The transition is sharper than those observed on the SrFe$_2$As$_2$:Co films, which would originate from their improved crystallinity. These films also have atomica…
Polarized inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed to study magnetic excitations in the normal and superconducting phases of Co-underdoped BaFe$_2$As$_2$, which exhibits coexistence of antiferromagnetic order and superconductivity. In the normal state the antiferromagnetic order results in broadened spin gaps opening in all three spin directions that are reminiscent of the magnetic response in pure antiferromagnetic BaFe$_2$As$_2$. In particular longitudinal excitations exhibit a large gap. In the superconducting state we find two distinct resonance excitations, which both are a…
We performed combined infrared reflection and ellipsometry measurements of the in-plane optical reponse of single crystals of the pnictide high temperature superconductor BaFe$_{1.87}$Co$_{0.13}$As$_{2}$ with $T_{c}$ = 24.5 K. We observed characteristic superconductivity-induced changes which provide evidence for at least three different energy gaps. We show that a BCS-model of isotropic gaps with 2$Δ/k_{B}T_{c}$ of 3.1, 4.7, and 9.2 reproduces the experimental data rather well. We also determine the low-temperature value of the in-plane magnetic penetration depth of 270 nm.
An unexpected insensitivity of the Fermi surface to impurity scattering is found in Ru substituted BaFe$_2$As$_2$ from first-principles theory, offering a natural explanation of the unusual resilience of transport and superconductivity to a high level of disordered substitution in this material. This robustness is shown to originate from a coherent interference of correlated on-site and inter-site impurity scattering, similar in spirit to the microscopic mechanism of superdiffusion in one dimension. Our result also demonstrates a strong substitution dependence of the Fermi surface and carrier …
Quantum materials such as antiferromagnets or superconductors are complex in that chemical, electronic, and spin phenomena at atomic scales can manifest in their collective properties. Although there are some clues for designing such materials, they remain mainly unpredictable. In this work, we find that enhancement of transition temperatures in BaFe2As2-based crystals are caused by removing local-lattice strain and electronic-structure disorder by thermal annealing. While annealing improves Neel-ordering temperature in BaFe2As2 crystal (TN=132 K to 136 K) by removing in-plane electronic defec…
Using multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) spectroscopy, we studied superconductor - normal metal - superconductor (SnS) semiballistic contacts with incoherent transport in overdoped pnictide superconductors BaFe$_{1.86}$Ni$_{0.14}$As$_2$ with critical temperature $T_c \approx 12$ K. We directly determined an anisotropic large gap with the characteristic ratios $2Δ_L^{\rm out}(0)/k_BT_c \approx 6$ and $2Δ_L^{\rm in}(0)/k_BT_c \approx 4$, almost isotropic small gap with $2Δ_S(0)/k_BT_c \approx 2$, and the temperature dependence of the resolved superconducting order parameters. Above the large gap …
Since the discovery of the metallic antiferromagnetic (AF) ground state near superconductivity in iron-pnictide superconductors, a central question has been whether magnetism in these materials arises from weakly correlated electrons, as in the case of spin-density-wave in pure chromium, requires strong electron correlations, or can even be described in terms of localized electrons such as the AF insulating state of copper oxides. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to determine the absolute intensity of the magnetic excitations throughout the Brillouin zone in electron-doped superconduct…
Whether or not epitaxially grown superconducting films have the same bulk-like superconducting properties is an important concern. We report the structure and the electronic properties of epitaxially grown Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 films using scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). This film showed a different surface structure, (2sqrtx2sqrt2)R45 reconstruction, from those of as-cleaved surfaces from bulk crystals. The electronic structure of the grown film is different from that in bulk, and it is notable that the film exhibits the same superconducting transport prope…
We investigated the complex conductivity spectrum of a Co-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ epitaxial thin film in the THz region. In the normal state, the complex conductivity shows a Drude-type frequency dependence, while in the superconducting state, the frequency dependence of the complex conductivity changes to that of a typical superconducting materials. We estimated the magnetic penetration depth at absolute zero to be 710 nm and the superconducting gap energy to be 2.8 meV, which is considered to be the superconducting gap opened at the electron-type Fermi surface near the M point. We succeeded in …
The issue of whether the quantum critical point (QCP) is hidden inside unconventional superconductors is a matter of hot debate. Although a prominent experiment on London penetration depth has demonstrated the existence of the QCP in the isovalent-doped iron-based superconductor BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$, with the observation of a sharp peak in the penetration depth in the vicinity of the disappearance of magnetic order at zero temperature, the nature of such an emerging QCP remains unclear. Here, we provide a unique picture to understand well the phenomena of the QCP based on the framewor…
The transport properties, upper critical fields, superconducting anisotropy, and critical current density in an iso-valent phosphorus-doped BaFe2As2 single crystal close to optimum doping are investigated in this report. Temperature dependent resistivity and susceptibility show a superconducting transition temperature, Tc, just below 31 K both with sharp transitions. The upper critical field parallel to the ab-plane, Hc2^ab, is above 77 Tesla while that along the c-axis direction, Hc2^c, is just above 36 Tesla, yielding a low superconducting anisotropy ratio ~ 2. The estimated inter-plane cohe…
In many classes of unconventional superconductors, the question of whether the superconductivity is enhanced by the quantum-critical fluctuations on the verge of an ordered phase remains elusive. One of the most direct ways of addressing this issue is to investigate how the superconducting dome traces a shift of the ordered phase. Here, we study how the phase diagram of the iron-based superconductor BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ changes with disorder via electron irradiation, which keeps the carrier concentrations intact. With increasing disorder, we find that the magneto-structural transition…
The nature of superconducting fluctuation effects in the isovalently-substituted iron pnictide BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ (x=0.35) is probed through measurements of the magnetization and magnetoconductivity around the superconducting transition. The results, obtained with magnetic fields up to 9 T applied in the two main crystal directions, are consistent with anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (GL) approaches for finite applied magnetic fields. The analysis allowed to determine with accuracy the out-of-plane, $ξ_c(0)$, and in-plane, $ξ_{ab}(0)$, GL coherence lengths. Significant differences are f…
Using the de Haas-van Alphen effect we have measured the evolution of the Fermi surface of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2 as function of isoelectric substitution (As/P) for 0.41<x<1 (T_c up to 25 K). We find that the volume of electron and hole Fermi surfaces shrink linearly with decreasing x. This shrinking is accompanied by a strong increase in the quasiparticle effective mass as x is tuned toward the maximum T_c. It is likely that these trends originate from the many-body interaction which give rise to superconductivity, rather than the underlying one-electron bandstructure.
We report on the Andreev spectroscopy and specific heat of high-quality single crystals BaFe$_{1.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$As$_{2}$. The intrinsic multiple Andreev reflection spectroscopy reveals two anisotropic superconducting gaps $Δ_L \approx 3.2 \textendash 4.5$\,meV, $Δ_S \approx 1.2 \textendash 1.6$\,meV (the ranges correspond to the minimum and maximum value of the coupling energy in the $k_xk_y$-plane). The $25 \textendash 30 \%$ anisotropy shows the absence of nodes in the superconducting gaps. Using a two-band model with s-wave-like gaps $Δ_L \approx 3.2$\,meV and $Δ_S \approx 1.6$\,meV, the temp…
Magnetic measurements on optimally doped single crystals of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_2$ ($x\approx0.35$) with magnetic fields applied along different crystallographic axes were performed under pressure, enabling the pressure evolution of coherence lengths and the anisotropy factor to be followed. Despite a decrease in the superconducting critical temperature, our studies reveal that the superconducting properties become more anisotropic under pressure. With appropriate scaling, we directly compare these properties with the values obtained for BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_2$ as a function o…
Investigating the role of disorder in superconductors is an essential part of characterizing the fundamental superconducting properties as well as assessing potential applications of the material. In most cases, the information available on the defect matrix is poor, making such studies difficult, but the situation can be improved by introducing defects in a controlled way, as provided by neutron irradiation. In this work, we analyze the effects of neutron irradiation on a Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ single crystal. We mainly concentrate on the magnetic properties which were determined by m…
Increasing doping concentration (x) in Pnictide superconductors results in the suppression of long range magnetic order and the emergence of superconductivity. While doping destroys long range magnetic order however the effect if any of the surviving magnetic fluctuations on superconductivity in Pnictides is currently not well understood. In optimally doped BaFe2-xCoxAs2 single crystals, below Tc we observe local regions with positive magnetization coexisting along with superconductivity at low applied magnetic fields (H). With increasing H the positive magnetization response gets weaker and t…
Optical spectroscopy was used to study the electrodynamics and hidden transport properties of a BaFe$_{1.91}$Ni$_{0.09}$As$_{2}$ thin superconducting film. We analyzed the normal state data using a Drude-Lorentz model with two Drude components: one narrow ($D_1$) and another broad one ($D_2$). In the superconducting state, two gaps with $2Δ_{0}^{(2)}/k_BT_c=1.9$--2.0 and $2Δ_{0}^{(1)}/k_BT_c=4.0$--4.3 are formed from the narrow component $D_1$ while the broad component $D_2$ remains ungapped. The calculated total DC resistivity of the film and the low-temperature scattering rate for the narrow…
The three-dimensional Fermi surface morphology of superconducting BaFe_2(As_0.37}P_0.63)_2 with T_c=9K, is determined using the de Haas-van Alphen effect (dHvA). The inner electron pocket has a similar area and k_z interplane warping to the observed hole pocket, revealing that the Fermi surfaces are geometrically well nested in the (π,π) direction. These results are in stark contrast to the Fermiology of the non-superconducting phosphides (x=1), and therefore suggests an important role for nesting in pnictide superconductivity.
The evolution of pressure induced superconductivity in single crystal as well as polycrystalline samples of BaFe2As2 has been investigated through temperature dependent electrical resistivity studies in 0-7 GPa pressure range. While the superconducting transition remains incomplete in polycrystalline sample, a clear pressure induced superconductivity with zero resistivity at the expense of magnetic transition, associated with spin density wave (SDW), is observed in the single crystal sample. The superconducting transition temperature (TC) is seen to increase upto a moderate pressure of about ~…
A low and almost temperature independent resistance in the normal state and an anomalous peak effect within the normal-superconducting transition have been observed in BaFe$_{1.8}$Co$_{0.2}$As$_2$/Fe bilayers, prepared on IBAD-MgO/Y$_2$O$_3$ buffered technical substrates. A resistor network array sufficiently reproduces this effect, assuming an increase of the electrical conductance between tape and film with decreasing buffer layer thickness. Based on this model we evaluated the influence of this effect on the critical current density and successfully reconstructed the superconducting transit…
We report detailed measurements of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect in BaFe_2P_2 which is the end member of the superconducting series, BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2. Using high purity samples we are able to observe dHvA oscillations from all the sheets of Fermi surface and hence build up a complete detailed picture of its structure. The results show the existence of a highly warped section of hole surface which may be the origin of the nodal gap structure in this series. Importantly, we find that, even for this non-superconducting end member, one of the hole surfaces almost exactly nests with the…
We report a comprehensive study of the spin ladder compound BaFe$_2$S$_{2.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ using neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, high pressure synchrotron diffraction, and high pressure transport techniques. We find that BaFe$_2$S$_{2.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ possesses the same $Cmcm$ structure and stripe antiferromagnetic order as does BaFe$_2$S$_3$, but with a reduced N{é}el temperature of $T_N=98$ K compared to 120 K for the undoped system, and a slightly increased ordered moment of 1.40$μ_B$ per iron. The low-energy spin excitations in BaFe$_2$S$_{2.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ are likewise similar …
We report on imaging of the nonuniform superconducting states in a Pb thin film bridge on top of a ferromagnetic BaFe_{12}O_{19} single crystal with a single straight domain wall along the center of the bridge by low-temperature scanning laser microscopy. We have visualized domain wall superconductivity (DWS) close to the critical temperature of Pb, when the Pb film above the domain wall acts as a superconducting path for the current. The evolution of the DWS signal with temperature and the external-field-driven transition from DWS to reverse domain superconductivity was visualized.
The in-plane thermal conductivity $κ$ of electron-doped iron-arsenide superconductor BaFe$_{1.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$As$_2$ ($T_c$ = 20.3 K) single crystal was measured down to 70 mK. In zero field, the absence of a residual linear term $κ_0/T$ at $ T \to 0$ is strong evidence for nodeless superconducting gap. In magnetic field, $κ_0/T$ shows a slow field dependence up to $H$ = 14.5 T ($\approx$ 30% $H_{c_2}$). This is consistent with the superconducting gap structure demonstrated by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments in BaFe$_{1.85}$Co$_{0.15}$As$_2$ ($T_c$ = 25.5 K), where isotropic…
The coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in the isovalent-P-substituted BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ has been investigated microscopically by $^{31}$P-NMR measurements. We found that superconducting (SC) transition occurs in a magnetic region with static ordered moments and that the moments are reduced below the SC transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ in the samples near the phase boundary of magnetism and superconductivity. Our results indicate that magnetism and superconductivity coexist spatially but compete with each other on the same Fermi surfaces. The coexistence state is quali…
We report elastic neutron scattering and transport measurements on the Ni and Cr equivalently doped iron pnictide BaFe$_{2-2x}$Ni$_{x}$Cr$_{x}$As$_{2}$. Compared with the electron-doped BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_{x}$As$_{2}$, the long-range antiferromagnetic (AF) order in BaFe$_{2-2x}$Ni$_{x}$Cr$_{x}$As$_{2}$ is gradually suppressed with vanishing ordered moment and Néel temperature near $x= 0.20$ without the appearance of superconductivity. A detailed analysis on the transport properties of BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_{x}$As and BaFe$_{2-2x}$Ni$_{x}$Cr$_{x}$As$_{2}$ suggests that the non-Fermi-liquid behavior asso…
We report on specific heat measurements on clean overdoped $\mathrm{BaFe_{2}(As_{1-x}P_x)_2}$ single crystals performed with a high resolution membrane-based nanocalorimeter. A nonzero residual electronic specific heat coefficient at zero temperature $γ_\mathrm{r}={C/T}|_{T \to 0}$ is seen for all doping compositions, indicating a considerable fraction of the Fermi surface ungapped or having very deep minima. The remaining superconducting electronic specific heat is analyzed through a two-band s-wave $α$ model in order to investigate the gap structure. Close to optimal doping we detect a singl…
Temperature-dependent reflectivity measurements in the frequency range 85 - 7000 cm$^{-1}$ were performed on BaFe$_2$As$_2$ single crystals under pressure up to $\sim$5 GPa. The corresponding pressure- and temperature-dependent optical conductivity was analyzed with the Drude-Lorentz model to extract the coherent and incoherent contributions. The gradual suppression of the spin-density wave (SDW) state with increasing pressure and the appearance of the superconducting phase coexisting with the SDW phase at 3.6~GPa were observed. At 3.6~GPa, the reflectivity reaches unity below $\sim$95~cm$^{-1…
The in-plane thermal conductivity $κ$ of overdoped FeAs-based superconductor BaFe$_{1.73}$Co$_{0.27}$As$_2$ ($T_c$ = 8.1 K) single crystal was measured down to 80 mK. In zero field, the residual linear term $κ_0/T$ is negligible, suggesting a nodeless superconducting gap in the $ab$-plane. In magnetic field, $κ_0/T$ increases rapidly, very different from that of conventional s-wave superconductors. This anomalous $κ_0/T(H)$ may reveal an exotic superconducting gap structure in overdoped BaFe$_{1.73}$Co$_{0.27}$As$_2$: the vanishing hole ($β$) pocket has a much larger gap than the electron ($γ$…
^{31}P and ^{75}As NMR measurements were performed in superconducting BaFe_2(As_{0.67}P_{0.33})_2 with T_c = 30 K. The nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate T_1^{-1} and the Knight shift in the normal state indicate the development of antiferromagnetic fluctuations, and T_1^{-1} in the superconducting (SC) state decreases without a coherence peak just below T_c, as observed in (Ba_{1-x}K_{x})Fe_2As_2. In contrast to other iron arsenide superconductors, the T_1^{-1} \propto T behavior is observed below 4K, indicating the presence of a residual density of states at zero energy. Our results sugges…
Electron doping of a 122-type iron pnictide BaFe2As2 by substituting the Ba site with an aliovalent ion (indirect doping), which had been unsuccessful by conventional solid-state synthesis methods, was achieved by a non-equilibrium film growth process. The substitution with La was substantiated by a systematic shrinkage of the c-axis lattice parameter due to the smaller ionic radius of La3+ than that of Ba2+. A negative Hall coefficient indicated that the majority carriers were electrons, as is consistent with this aliovalent ion doping. The La substitution suppressed an antiferromagnetic tran…
We use inelastic neutron scattering to study magnetic excitations of the FeAs-based superconductor BaFe$_{1.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$As$_2$ above and below its superconducting transition temperature $T_c=20$ K. In addition to gradually open a spin gap at the in-plane antiferromagnetic ordering wavevector $(1,0,0)$, the effect of superconductivity is to form a three dimensional resonance with clear dispersion along the c-axis direction. The intensity of the resonance develops like a superconducting order parameter, and the mode occurs at distinctively different energies at $(1,0,0)$ and $(1,0,1)$. If the r…
We present a comprehensive overview of vortex pinning in single crystals of the isovalently substituted iron-based superconductor BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$, a material that qualifies as an archetypical clean superconductor, containing only sparse strong point-like pins [in the sense of C.J. van der Beek {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 66}, 024523 (2002)]. Widely varying critical current values for nominally similar compositions show that flux pinning is of extrinsic origin. Vortex configurations, imaged using the Bitter decoration method, show less density fluctuations than those pre…
The superconducting fluctuations well inside the normal state of Fe-based superconductors were studied through measurements of the in-plane paraconductivity and magnetoconductivity in high quality BaFe(2-x)NixAs2 crystals with doping levels from the optimal (x=0.10) up to the highly overdoped (x=0.20). These measurements, performed in magnetic fields up to 9 T perpendicular to the ab (Fe) layers, allowed a reliable check of the applicability to iron-based superconductors of Ginzburg-Landau approaches for 3D anisotropic compounds, even at high reduced temperatures and magnetic fields. Our resul…
We present specific heat measurements on a series of BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 single crystals with phosphorous doping ranging from x = 0.3 to 0.55. Our results reveal that BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 follows the scaling Delta_C/Tc ~ Tc^2 remarkably well. The clean-limit nature of this material imposes new restraints on theories aimed at explaining the scaling. Furthermore, we find that the Ginzburg-Landau parameter decreases significantly with doping whereas the superconducting anisotropy is gamma~2.6, independent of doping.
We present a theory for the large suppression of the superfluid-density, $ρ_s$, in BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ in the vicinity of a putative spin-density wave quantum critical point at a P-doping, $x=x_{c}$. We argue that the transition becomes weakly first-order in the vicinity of $x_{c}$, and disorder induces puddles of superconducting and antiferromagnetic regions at short length-scales; thus the system becomes an electronic micro-emulsion. We propose that frustrated Josephson couplings between the superconducting grains suppress $ρ_s$. In addition, the presence of `normal' quasiparticles…
We investigate the electronic specific heat of overdoped BaFe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ single crystals in the superconducting state using high-resolution nanocalorimetry. From the measurements, we extract the doping dependence of the condensation energy, superconducting gap $Δ$, and related microscopic parameters. We find that the anomalous scaling of the specific heat jump $ΔC \propto T_{\mathrm{c}}^3$, found in many iron-based superconductors, in this system originates from a $T_\mathrm{c}$-dependent ratio $Δ/k_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{c}$ in combination with a doping-dependent density of s…
We report a systematic investigation on c-axis point-contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) in BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$ superconducting single crystals from underdoped to overdoped regions (0.075 $\leq x\leq 0.15$). At optimal doping ($x=0.1$) the PCAR spectrum feature the structures of two superconducting gap and electron-boson coupling mode. In the $s\pm$ scenario, quantitative analysis using a generalized Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) formalism with two gaps: one isotropic and another angle dependent, suggest a nodeless state in strong-coupling limit with gap minima on the Fermi surfaces. Upon …
We report magnetic penetration depth and thermal conductivity data for high-quality single crystals of BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_2$ ($T_c=30$\,K) which provide strong evidence that this material has line nodes in its energy gap. This is distinctly different from the nodeless gap found for (Ba,K)Fe$_2$As$_2$ which has similar $T_c$ and phase diagram. Our results indicate that repulsive electronic interactions play an essential role for Fe-based high-$T_c$ superconductivity but that uniquely there are distinctly different pairing states, with and without nodes, which have comparable $T_c$.
Measurements of the superconducting transition temperature, T_c, under hydrostatic pressure via bulk AC susceptibility were carried out on several concentrations of phosphorous substitution in BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2. The pressure dependence of unsubstituted BaFe_2As_2, phosphorous concentration dependence of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2, as well as the pressure dependence of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2 all point towards an identical maximum T_c of 31 K. This demonstrates that phosphorous substitution and physical pressure result in similar superconducting phase diagrams, and that phosphorous substitution do…
In previous work in undoped MFe2As2, partial drops in the resistivity indicative of traces of superconductivity have been observed in some samples of M=Ba (Tc ~ 20 K, up to 25% drop in resistivity) and M=Ca (Tc ~ 10 K, up to 45 % drop in resistivity.) A complete drop in the resistivity to 0, along with a finite fraction of Meissner flux expulsion, has been observed in M=Sr, Tc = 22 K. Using In-flux grown single crystal samples of undoped BaFe2As2, we find a complete drop in the resistivity to 0 in most samples beginning at Tc(onset) = 22.5 K. However, in contrast to the SrFe2As2 results, there…
We have investigated the influence of the superconducting layer thickness, d, on the structural and transport properties of Co-doped BaFe2As2 films deposited on Fe-buffered MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The superconducting transition temperature and the texture quality of Co-doped BaFe2As2 films improve with increasing d due to a gradual relief of the tensile strain. For d>90 nm an additional 110 textured component of Co-doped BaFe2As2 was observed, which leads to an upward shift in the angular dependent critical current density at H // c. These results indicate that the grain bou…
The scaling of $H$-linear magnetoresistance in field and temperature was measured in under-doped (x = 0.19) and optimally-doped (x=0.31)~BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$. We analyze the data based on an orbital model in the presence of strongly anisotropic quasiparticle spectra and scattering time due to antiferromagnetism. The magnetoresistance is dominated by the properties of small regions of the Fermi surface called `hot spots' where antiferromagnetic excitations induce a large quasiparticle scattering rate. Approximate temperature-magnetic field scaling relations are derived and shown to be …
