Journal article · Preprint article
Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe1-xCoxAs
Princeton University1
Nanjing Normal University2
Academia Sinica Taiwan3
Boston College4
Pohang University of Science and Technology5
Chinese Academy of Sciences6
Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology7
Universität Leipzig8
National Sun Yat-sen University9
Brookhaven National Laboratory10
Nanomaterials and Devices, Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark11
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark12
University of Copenhagen13
...and 3 moreThe interplay between unconventional Cooper pairing and quantum states associated with atomic scale defects is a frontier of research with many open questions. So far, only a few of the high-temperature superconductors allow this intricate physics to be studied in a widely tunable way. We use scanning tunneling microscopy to image the electronic impact of Co atoms on the ground state of the LiFe1-xCoxAs system.
We observe that impurities progressively suppress the global superconducting gap and introduce low energy states near the gap edge, with the superconductivity remaining in the strong-coupling limit. Unexpectedly, the fully opened gap evolves into a nodal state before the Cooper pair coherence is fully destroyed.
Our systematic theoretical analysis shows that these new observations can be quantitatively understood by the nonmagnetic Born-limit scattering effect in an s±-wave superconductor, unveiling the driving force of the superconductor to metal quantum phase transition.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2019 |
Pages: | 217004 |
ISSN: | 10797114 and 00319007 |
Types: | Journal article and Preprint article |
DOI: | 10.1103/physrevlett.123.217004 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0002-9786-7553 and Martiny, Johannes H. J. |