A long-standing theoretical prediction is that in clean, nodal unconventional superconductors the magnetic penetration depth λ , at zero temperature, varies linearly with magnetic field. This non-linear Meissner effect is an equally important manifestation of the nodal state as the well studied linear-in- T dependence of λ , but has never been convincingly experimentally observed. Here we present measurements of the nodal superconductors CeCoIn 5 and LaFePO which clearly show this non-linear Meissner effect. We further show how the effect of a small dc magnetic field on λ ( T ) can be used to distinguish gap nodes from non-nodal deep gap minima. Our measurements of KFe 2 As 2 suggest that this material has such a non-nodal state.

We present a comprehensive investigation of the evolution of helimagnetic correlations in Mn_{1−x}Fe_{x}Si with increasing doping. By combining polarized neutron scattering and high resolution neutron spin echo spectroscopy we investigate three samples with x = 0.09, 0.11, and 0.14, i.e., with compositions on both sides of the concentration x^{*}∼0.11 where the helimagnetic Bragg peaks disappear and between x^{*} and the quantum critical concentration x_{C}∼0.17, where T_{C} vanishes. We find that the abrupt disappearance of the long range helical periodicity at x^{*} does not affect the precursor fluctuating correlations. These build up with decreasing temperature in a similar way as for the parent compound MnSi. Also the dynamics bears strong similarities to MnSi. The analysis of our results indicates that frustration, possibly due to achiral Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions, increases with increasing Fe doping. We argue that this effect explains both the expansion of the precursor phase with increasing x and the abrupt disappearance of long range helimagnetic periodicity at x^{*}.

A number of recent experiments indicate that the iron-chalcogenide FeSe provides the long-sought possibility to study bulk superconductivity in the cross-over regime between the weakly coupled Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) pairing and the strongly coupled Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). We report on Se-77 nuclear magnetic resonance experiments of FeSe, focused on the superconducting phase for strong magnetic fields applied along the c axis, where a distinct state with large spin polarization was reported. We determine this high-field state as bulk superconducting with high spatial homogeneity of the low-energy spin fluctuations. Further, we find that the static spin susceptibility becomes unusually small at temperatures approaching the superconducting state, despite the presence of pronounced spin fluctuations. Taken together, our results clearly indicate that FeSe indeed features an unusual field-induced superconducting state of a highly spin-polarized Fermi liquid in the BCS-BEC crossover regime.

Electronic nematicity is often found in unconventional superconductors, suggesting its relevance for electronic pairing. In the strongly hole-doped iron-based superconductors, the symmetry channel and strength of the nematic fluctuations, as well as the possible presence of long-range nematic order, remain controversial. Here, we address these questions using transport measurements under elastic strain. By decomposing the strain response into the appropriate symmetry channels, we demonstrate the emergence of a giant in-plane symmetric contribution, associated with the growth of both strong electronic correlations and the sensitivity of these correlations to strain. We find weakened remnants of the nematic fluctuations that are present at optimal doping, but no change in the symmetry channel of nematic fluctuations with hole doping. Furthermore, we find no indication of a nematic-ordered state in the AFe2As2 (A = K, Rb, Cs) superconductors. These results revise the current understanding of nematicity in hole-doped iron-based superconductors.

We report an angle-resolved photoemission study of a series of hole- and electron-doped iron-based superconductors, their parent compound BaFe2As2, and their cousins BaCr2As2 and BaCo2As2. We focus on the inner hole pocket, which is the hot spot in these compounds. More specifically, we determine the energy (E)-dependent scattering rate Gamma(E) as a function of the 3d count. Moreover, for the compounds K0.4Ba0.6Fe2As2 and BaCr2As2, we derive the energy dependence of the renormalization function Z(E) and the imaginary part of the self-energy function Im Sigma(E). We obtain a non-Fermi liquidlike linear in energy scattering rate Gamma(E >> k(B)T ), independent of the dopant concentration. The main result is that the slope beta = Gamma(E >> k(B)T)/E reaches its maxima near optimal doping and scales with the superconducting transition temperature. This supports the spin fluctuation model for superconductivity for these materials. In the optimally hole-doped compound, the slope of the scattering rate of the inner hole pocket is about three times bigger than the Planckian limit Gamma(E)/E approximate to 1. This result, together with the energy dependence of the renormalization function Z(E), signals very incoherent charge carriers in the normal state which transform at low temperatures to a coherent unconventional superconducting state.

This paper presents c-direction hybrid Josephson junctions with base electrodes of Co:BaFe2As2 single crystals. To realize Josephson junctions, it applies standard photolithography technologies and a newly developed surface polishing method that was used. As conventional isotropic s-wave superconductor counter electrodes used double layers of Pb/In. The artificial barrier for the tunneling junctions consists of a thin sputtered Ti layer or a thermally evaporated Al layer; both layers were used as an insulator barrier. For characterizing the Josephson effects with TiOx barrier, we could realize IcRN products of about 13.7 μV and unconventional Ic-T dependencies. The formation of Shapiro steps under the influence of microwave irradiation and magnetic field to the junctions will be discussed as well.

The hypothesis that strain has a permeating influence on ferroelastic, magnetic and superconducting transitions in 122 iron pnictides has been tested by investigating variations of the elastic and anelastic properties of a single crystal of Ba(Fe0.957Co0.043)2As2 by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy as a function of temperature and externally applied magnetic field. Non-linear softening and stiffening of C 66 in the stability fields of both the tetragonal and orthorhombic structures has been found to conform quantitatively to the Landau expansion for a pseudoproper ferroelastic transition which is second order in character. The only exception is that the transition occurs at a temperature (T S  ≈  69 K) ~10 K above the temperature at which C 66 would extrapolate to zero ([Formula: see text]  ≈  59 K). An absence of anomalies associated with antiferromagnetic ordering below T N  ≈  60 K implies that coupling of the magnetic order parameter with shear strain is weak. It is concluded that linear-quadratic coupling between the structural/electronic and antiferromagnetic order parameters is suppressed due to the effects of local heterogeneous strain fields arising from the substitution of Fe by Co. An acoustic loss peak at ~50-55 K is attributed to the influence of mobile ferroelastic twin walls that become pinned by a thermally activated process involving polaronic defects. Softening of C 66 by up to ~6% below the normal-superconducting transition at T c  ≈  13 K demonstrates an effective coupling of the shear strain with the order parameter for the superconducting transition which arises indirectly as a consequence of unfavourable coupling of the superconducting order parameter with the ferroelastic order parameter. Ba(Fe0.957Co0.043)2As2 is representative of 122 pnictides as forming a class of multiferroic superconductors in which elastic strain relaxations underpin almost all aspects of coupling between the structural, magnetic and superconducting order parameters and of dynamic properties of the transformation microstructures they contain.

The elastic and anelastic properties of a single crystal of Co-doped pnictide Ba(Fe0.957Co0.043)(2)As-2 have been determined by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy in the frequency range 10-500 kHz, both as a function of temperature through the normalsuperconducting transition (T-c approximate to 12.5 K) and as a function of applied magnetic field up to 12.5 T. Correlation with thermal expansion, electrical resistivity, heat capacity, DC and AC magnetic data from crystals taken from the same synthetic batch has revealed the permeating influence of strain on coupling between order parameters for the ferroelastic (Q(E)) and superconducting (Q(SC)) transitions and on the freezing/relaxation behaviour of vortices. Elastic softening through T-c in zero field can be understood in terms of classical coupling of the order parameter with the shear strain e(6), lambda e(6)Q(SC)(2), which means that there must be a common strain mechanism for coupling of the form lambda Q(SC)(2)Q(E). At fields of similar to 5 T and above, this softening is masked by Debye-like stiffening and acoustic loss processes due to vortex freezing. The first loss peak may be associated with the establishment of superconductivity on ferroelastic twin walls ahead of the matrix and the second is due to the vortex liquid-vortex glass transition. Strain contrast between vortex cores and the superconducting matrix will contribute significantly to interactions of vortices both with each other and with the underlying crystal structure. These interactions imply that iron-pnictides represent a class of multiferroic superconductors in which strain-mediated coupling occurs between the multiferroic properties (ferroelasticity, antiferromagnetism) and superconductivity.

We report an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of the iron-based superconductor family, Ba_1-xNa_xFe_2As_2. This system harbors the recently discovered double-Q magnetic order appearing in a reentrant C_4 phase deep within the underdoped regime of the phase diagram that is otherwise dominated by the coupled nematic phase and collinear antiferromagnetic order. From a detailed temperature-dependence study, we identify the electronic response to the nematic phase in an orbital-dependent band shift that strictly follows the rotational symmetry of the lattice and disappears when the system restores C_4 symmetry in the low temperature phase. In addition, we report the observation of a distinct electronic reconstruction that cannot be explained by the known electronic orders in the system.

One of the most unique and robust experimental facts about iron-based superconductors is the renormalization of the electronic band dispersion by factor of 3 and more near the Fermi level. Obviously related to the electron pairing, this prominent deviation from the band theory lacks understanding. Experimentally studying the entire spectrum of the valence electrons in iron arsenides, we have found an unexpected depletion of the spectral weight in the middle of the iron-derived band, which is accompanied by a drastic increase of the scattering rate. At the same time, the measured arsenic-derived band exhibits very good agreement with theoretical calculations. We show that the low-energy Fermi velocity renormalization should be viewed as a part of the modification of the spectral function by a strong electronic interaction. Such an interaction with an energy scale of the whole d band appears to be a hallmark of many families of unconventional superconductors.

X-ray emission and absorption spectroscopies are jointly used as fast probes to determine the evolution as a function of doping of the fluctuating local magnetic moments in K- and Cr- hole-doped BaFe2As2. An increase in the local moment with hole-doping is found, supporting the theoretical scenario in which a Mott insulating state that would be realized for half-filled conduction bands has an influence throughout the phase diagram of these iron-pnictides.

The study of the iron-based superconductor FeSe has blossomed with the availability of high-quality single crystals, obtained through flux/vapor-transport growth techniques below the structural transformation temperature of its tetragonal phase, T approximate to 450 degrees C. Here, we report on the variation of sample morphology and properties due to small modifications in the growth conditions. A considerable variation of the superconducting transition temperature T-c, from 8.8 K to 3 K, which cannot be correlated with the sample composition, is observed. Instead, we point out a clear correlation between T-c and disorder, as measured by the residual resistivity ratio. Notably, the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition is also found to be quite strongly disorder dependent (T-s approximate to 72-90 K) and linearly correlated with T-c.

In the heavily hole-doped iron-based superconductors $A$Fe$_2$As$_2$ ($A=$ K, Rb, and Cs), the electron effective mass increases rapidly with alkali-ion radius. To study how the mass enhancement affects the superconducting state, we measure the London penetration depth $\lambda(T)$ in clean crystals of $A$Fe$_2$As$_2$ down to low temperature $T\sim0.1$ K. In all systems, the superfluid stiffness $\rho_s(T)=\lambda^2(0)/\lambda^2(T)$ can be approximated by a power-law $T$ dependence at low temperatures, indicating the robustness of strong momentum anisotropy in the superconducting gap $\Delta(k)$. The power $\alpha$ increases from $\sim1$ with mass enhancement and approaches an unconventional exponent $\alpha\sim 1.5$ in the heaviest CsFe$_2$As$_2$. This appears to be a hallmark of superconductors near antiferromagnetic quantum critical points, where the quasiparticles excited across the anisotropic $\Delta(k)$ are significantly influenced by the momentum dependence of quantum critical fluctuations.

Using femtosecond time-resolved hard x-ray diffraction, we investigate the structural dynamics of the orthorhombic distortion in the Fe-pnictide parent compound BaFe2As2. The orthorhombic distortion analyzed by the transient splitting of the (1 0 3) Bragg reflection is suppressed on an initial timescale of 35 ps, which is much slower than the suppression of magnetic and nematic order. This observation demonstrates a transient state with persistent structural distortion and suppressed magnetic/nematic order which are strongly linked in thermal equilibrium. We suggest a way of quantifying the coupling between structural and nematic degrees of freedom based on the dynamics of the respective order parameters.

The thermal conductivity κ of the iron-based superconductor FeSe was measured at temperatures down to 75 mK in magnetic fields up to 17 T. In a zero magnetic field, the electronic residual linear term in the T=0  K limit, κ_{0}/T, is vanishingly small. The application of a magnetic field B causes an exponential increase in κ_{0}/T initially. Those two observations show that there are no zero-energy quasiparticles that carry heat and therefore no nodes in the superconducting gap of FeSe. The full field dependence of κ_{0}/T has the classic two-step shape of a two-band superconductor: a first rise at very low field, with a characteristic field B^{⋆}≪B_{c2}, and then a second rise up to the upper critical field B_{c2}. This shows that the superconducting gap is very small (but finite) on one of the pockets in the Fermi surface of FeSe. We estimate that the minimum value of the gap, Δ_{min}, is an order of magnitude smaller than the maximum value, Δ_{max}.

Using femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we investigate the effect of electron doping on the electron dynamics in Ba ( Fe 1 − x Co x ) 2 As 2 in a range of 0 ≤ x < 0.15 at temperatures slightly above the Néel temperature. By analyzing the time-dependent photoemission intensity of the pump laser excited population as a function of energy, we found that the relaxation times at 0 < E − E F < 0.2 eV are doping dependent and about 100 fs shorter at optimal doping than for overdoped and parent compounds. Analysis of the relaxation rates also reveals the presence of a pump fluence dependent step in the relaxation time at E − E F = 200 meV which we explain by coupling of the excited electronic system to a boson of this energy. We compare our results with static ARPES and transport measurements and find disagreement and agreement concerning the doping-dependence, respectively. We discuss the effect of the electron–boson coupling on the energy-dependent relaxation and assign the origin of the boson to a magnetic excitation.

We present a comprehensive study of the low-temperature heat capacity and thermal expansion of single crystals of the hole-doped Ba1-xKxFe2As2 series (0<x<1) and the end-members RbFe2As2 and CsFe2As2. A large increase of the Sommerfeld coefficient is observed with both decreasing band filling and isovalent substitution (K, Rb, Cs) revealing a strong enhancement of electron correlations and the possible proximity of these materials to a Mott insulator. This trend is well reproduced theoretically by our Density-Functional Theory + Slave-Spin (DFT+SS) calculations, confirming that 122-iron pnictides are effectively Hund metals, in which sizable Hund's coupling and orbital selectivity are the key ingredients for tuning correlations. We also find direct evidence for the existence of a coherence-incoherence crossover between a low-temperature heavy Fermi liquid and a highly incoherent high-temperature regime similar to heavy fermion systems. In the superconducting state, clear signatures of multiband superconductivity are observed with no evidence for nodes in the energy gaps, ruling out the existence of a doping-induced change of symmetry (from s to d-wave). We argue that the disappearance of the electron band in the range 0.4<x<1.0 is accompanied by a strong-to-weak coupling crossover and that this shallow band remains involved in the superconducting pairing, although its contribution to the normal state fades away. Differences between hole- and electron-doped BaFe2As2 series are emphasized and discussed in terms of strong pair breaking by potential scatterers beyond the Born limit.

The physics of the crossover between weak-coupling Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) and strong-coupling Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) limits gives a unified framework of quantum-bound (superfluid) states of interacting fermions. This crossover has been studied in the ultracold atomic systems, but is extremely difficult to be realized for electrons in solids. Recently, the superconducting semimetal FeSe with a transition temperature T c =8.5 K has been found to be deep inside the BCS–BEC crossover regime. Here we report experimental signatures of preformed Cooper pairing in FeSe, whose energy scale is comparable to the Fermi energies. In stark contrast to usual superconductors, large non-linear diamagnetism by far exceeding the standard Gaussian superconducting fluctuations is observed below T *∼20 K, providing thermodynamic evidence for prevailing phase fluctuations of superconductivity. Nuclear magnetic resonance and transport data give evidence of pseudogap formation at ∼ T *. The multiband superconductivity along with electron–hole compensation in FeSe may highlight a novel aspect of the BCS–BEC crossover physics.

Electronically driven nematic order is often considered as an essential ingredient of high-temperature superconductivity. Its elusive nature in iron-based superconductors resulted in a controversy not only as regards its origin but also as to the degree of its influence on the electronic structure even in the simplest representative material FeSe. Here we utilized angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations to study the influence of the nematic order on the electronic structure of FeSe and determine its exact energy and momentum scales. Our results strongly suggest that the nematicity in FeSe is electronically driven, we resolve the recent controversy and provide the necessary quantitative experimental basis for a successful theory of superconductivity in iron-based materials which takes into account both, spin-orbit interaction and electronic nematicity.