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Title: Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe 1 - x Co x As

Abstract

The 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 LiFe$$_{1-x}Co_{x}$$ As 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. Here, 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.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [5];  [8];  [9];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2] more »;  [2];  [10];  [5];  [11];  [12];  [2];  [13];  [14] « less
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy (B7)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Institute of Physics
  3. Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing (China)
  4. Universität Leipzig, Leipzig (Germany)
  5. National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung (Taiwan)
  6. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Institute of Physics; Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg (Germany)
  7. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  8. Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark). Center for Nanostructured Graphene (CNG)
  9. Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark). The Niels Bohr Inst.
  10. Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing (China). Center for Quantum Transport and Thermal Energy Science, Jiangsu Key Lab on Opto-Electronic Technology
  11. Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan). Institute of Physics
  12. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
  13. Pohang Univ. of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Korea, Republic of). Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics
  14. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy (B7); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF); Natural Science Foundation from Jiangsu Province of China
OSTI Identifier:
1632131
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; FG02-05ER46200; FG02-99ER45747; 2016-R1A2B4-008758; BK20160094
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Yin, Jia-Xin, Zhang, Songtian S., Dai, Guangyang, Zhao, Yuanyuan, Kreisel, Andreas, Macam, Gennevieve, Wu, Xianxin, Miao, Hu, Huang, Zhi-Quan, Martiny, Johannes H. J., Andersen, Brian M., Shumiya, Nana, Multer, Daniel, Litskevich, Maksim, Cheng, Zijia, Yang, Xian, Cochran, Tyler A., Chang, Guoqing, Belopolski, Ilya, Xing, Lingyi, Wang, Xiancheng, Gao, Yi, Chuang, Feng-Chuan, Lin, Hsin, Wang, Ziqiang, Jin, Changqing, Bang, Yunkyu, and Hasan, M. Zahid. Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe1-xCoxAs. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.123.217004.
Yin, Jia-Xin, Zhang, Songtian S., Dai, Guangyang, Zhao, Yuanyuan, Kreisel, Andreas, Macam, Gennevieve, Wu, Xianxin, Miao, Hu, Huang, Zhi-Quan, Martiny, Johannes H. J., Andersen, Brian M., Shumiya, Nana, Multer, Daniel, Litskevich, Maksim, Cheng, Zijia, Yang, Xian, Cochran, Tyler A., Chang, Guoqing, Belopolski, Ilya, Xing, Lingyi, Wang, Xiancheng, Gao, Yi, Chuang, Feng-Chuan, Lin, Hsin, Wang, Ziqiang, Jin, Changqing, Bang, Yunkyu, & Hasan, M. Zahid. Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe1-xCoxAs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.217004
Yin, Jia-Xin, Zhang, Songtian S., Dai, Guangyang, Zhao, Yuanyuan, Kreisel, Andreas, Macam, Gennevieve, Wu, Xianxin, Miao, Hu, Huang, Zhi-Quan, Martiny, Johannes H. J., Andersen, Brian M., Shumiya, Nana, Multer, Daniel, Litskevich, Maksim, Cheng, Zijia, Yang, Xian, Cochran, Tyler A., Chang, Guoqing, Belopolski, Ilya, Xing, Lingyi, Wang, Xiancheng, Gao, Yi, Chuang, Feng-Chuan, Lin, Hsin, Wang, Ziqiang, Jin, Changqing, Bang, Yunkyu, and Hasan, M. Zahid. Wed . "Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe1-xCoxAs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.217004. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1632131.
@article{osti_1632131,
title = {Quantum Phase Transition of Correlated Iron-Based Superconductivity in LiFe1-xCoxAs},
author = {Yin, Jia-Xin and Zhang, Songtian S. and Dai, Guangyang and Zhao, Yuanyuan and Kreisel, Andreas and Macam, Gennevieve and Wu, Xianxin and Miao, Hu and Huang, Zhi-Quan and Martiny, Johannes H. J. and Andersen, Brian M. and Shumiya, Nana and Multer, Daniel and Litskevich, Maksim and Cheng, Zijia and Yang, Xian and Cochran, Tyler A. and Chang, Guoqing and Belopolski, Ilya and Xing, Lingyi and Wang, Xiancheng and Gao, Yi and Chuang, Feng-Chuan and Lin, Hsin and Wang, Ziqiang and Jin, Changqing and Bang, Yunkyu and Hasan, M. Zahid},
abstractNote = {The 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 LiFe$_{1-x}Co_{x}$ As 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. Here, 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.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.123.217004},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 21,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Wed Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

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