Spin-dependent conductivity of iron-based superconductors in a magnetic field

We report the results of a study of magnetic field features of electron transport in heterojunctions with NS boundary inside iron-based superconductors, represented by a binary phase of $\alpha$ - FeSe and oxyarsenide pnictide LaO(F)FeAs. We used the ability of self magnetic field of the transport current to partially destroy superconductivity, no matter how low the field may be, in the NS interface area, where, due to the proximity effect, the superconducting order parameter, $\Delta$, disperses from 1 to 0 within the scale of the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length. The following features of transport were found:(i) at $T<T_{c}$, magnetoresistance in systems with different superconductors has different sign;(ii) sign and magnitude of the magnetoresistance depend on the magnitude of current and temperature, and (iii) in all operating modes where the contribution from Andreev reflection is suppressed ($(T + eV) \gtrsim \Delta$),the hysteresis of the magnetoresistance is present. Based on the results of the experiment and analysis it has been concluded that there is along-range magnetic order in th eground normal state of the iron-based superconductors studied, in the presence of itinerant magnetism of conduction electrons which determines the possibility of anisotropic spin-dependent exchange interaction with the local magnetic moments of the ions.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Highly mobile carriers in orthorhombic phases of iron-based superconductors FeSe1−x{}_{1-x}Sx{}_{x}

The field and temperature dependencies of the longitudinal and Hall resistivity have been measured for FeSe${}_{1-x}$S${}_{x}$ (x=0.04, 0.09 and 0.19) single crystals. The sample FeSe${}_{0.81}$S${}_{0.19}$ does not show a transition to an orthorhombic phase and exhibits at low temperatures the transport properties quite different from those of orthorhombic samples. The behavior of FeSe${}_{0.81}$S${}_{0.19}$ is well described by the simple two band model with comparable values of hole and electron mobility. In particular, at low temperatures the transverse resistance shows a linear field dependence, the magnetoresistance follow a quadratic field dependence and obeys to Kohler's rule. In contrast, Kohler's rule is strongly violated for samples having an orthorhombic low temperature structure. However, the transport properties of the orthorhombic samples can be satisfactory described by the three band model with the pair of almost equivalent to the tetragonal sample hole and electron bands, supplemented with the highly mobile electron band which has two order smaller carrier number. Therefore, the peculiarity of the low temperature transport properties of the orthorhombic Fe(SeS) samples, as probably of many other orthorhombic iron superconductors, is due to the presence of a small number of highly mobile carriers which originate from the local regions of the Fermi surface, presumably, nearby the Van Hove singularity points

Acoustic characteristics of FeSe single crystals Acoustic characteristics of FeSe single crystals

The results of the comprehensive ultrasonic research of high quality single crystals of FeSe are presented. Absolute values of sound velocities and their temperature dependences were measured; elastic constants and Debye temperature were calculated. The elastic C11-C12 and C11 constants undergo significant softening under the structural tetra-ortho transformation. The significant influence of the superconducting transition on the velocity and attenuation of sound was revealed and the value of the superconducting energy gap was estimated.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Pressure dependence of upper critical fields in FeSe single crystals

We investigate the pressure dependence of the upper critical fields ({\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$) for FeSe single crystals with pressure up to 2.57 GPa. The superconducting (SC) properties show a disparate behavior across a critical pressure where the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic phase coexists with superconductivity. The magnetoresistance for $H//ab$ and $H//c$ is very different: for $H//c$, magnetic field induces and enhances a hump in the resistivity close to the $T_c$ for pressures higher than 1.2 GPa, while it is absent for $H//ab$. Since the measured {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$ for FeSe samples is smaller than the orbital limited upper critical field ($H$$^{orb}$$_{c2}$) estimated by the Werthamer Helfand and Hohenberg (WHH) model, the Maki parameter ({\alpha}) related to Pauli spin-paramagnetic effects is additionally considered to describe the temperature dependence of {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$($T$). Interestingly, the {\alpha} value is hardly affected by pressure for $H//ab$, while it strongly increases with pressure for $H//c$. The pressure evolution of the {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$(0)s for the FeSe single crystals is found to be almost similar to that of $T_c$($P$), suggesting that the pressure-induced magnetic order adversely affects the upper critical fields as well as the SC transition temperature.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Magnetotransport properties of FeSe in fields up to 50T

Magnetotransport properties of the high-quality FeSe crystal, measured in a wide temperature range and in magnetic fields up to 50 T, show the symmetry of the main holelike and electronlike bands in this compound. In addition to the main two bands, there is also a tiny, highly mobile, electronlike band which is responsible for the non-linear behavior of $\rho_{xy}$(B) at low temperatures and some other peculiarities of FeSe. We observe the inversion of the $\rho_{xx}$ temperature coeficient at a magnetic field higher than about 20 T which is an implicit conformation of the electron-hole symmetry in the main bands.Comment: MISM 201

Majority carrier type inversion in FeSe family and "doped semimetal" scheme in iron-based superconductors

The field and temperature dependencies of the longitudinal and Hall resistivity have been studied for high-quality FeSe${}_{1-x}$S${}_{x}$ (x up to 0.14) single crystals. Quasiclassical analysis of the obtained data indicates a strong variation of the electron and hole concentrations under the studied isovalent substitution and proximity of FeSe to the point of the majority carrier-type inversion. On this basis, we propose a `doped semimetal' scheme for the superconducting phase diagram of the FeSe family, which can be applied to other iron-based superconductors. In this scheme, the two local maxima of the superconducting temperature can be associated with the Van Hove singularities of a simplified semi-metallic electronic structure. The multicarrier analysis of the experimental data also reveals the presence of a tiny and highly mobile electron band for all the samples studied. Sulfur substitution in the studied range leads to a decrease in the number of mobile electrons by more than ten times, from about 3\% to about 0.2\%. This behavior may indicate a successive change of the Fermi level position relative to singular points of the electronic structure which is consistent with the `doped semimetal' scheme. The scattering time for mobile carriers does not depend on impurities, which allows us to consider this group as a possible source of unusual acoustic properties of FeSe

The superconducting gaps in FeSe studied by soft point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy

FeSe single crystals have been studied by soft point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy. Superconducting gap features in the differential resistance dV/dI(V) of point contacts such as a characteristic Andreev-reflection double-minimum structure have been measured versus temperature and magnetic field. Analyzing dV/dI within the extended two-gap Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model allows to extract both the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the superconducting gaps. The temperature dependence of both gaps is close to the standard BCS behavior. Remarkably, the magnitude of the double-minimum structure gradually vanishes in magnetic field, while the minima position only slightly shifts with field indicating a weak decrease of the superconducting gaps. Analyzing the dV/dI(V) spectra for 25 point contacts results in the averaged gap values = 1.8+/-0.4meV and =1.0+/-0.2 meV and reduced values 2/kTc=4.2+/-0.9 and 2/kTc=2.3+/-0.5 for the large (L) and small (S) gap, respectively. Additionally, the small gap contribution was found to be within tens of percent decreasing with both temperature and magnetic field. No signatures in the dV/dI spectra were observed testifying a gapless superconductivity or presence of even smaller gaps.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figs., 3 tables. Shortened version without fig.4 and Table 3 is accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.