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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 $Delta$, and related microscopic parameters. We find that the anomalous scaling of the specific heat jump $Delta C propto T_{mathrm{c}}^3$, found in many iron-based superconductors, in this system originates from a $T_mathrm{c}$-dependent ratio $Delta/k_mathrm{B}T_mathrm{c}$ in combination with a doping-dependent density of states $N(varepsilon_mathrm{F})$. A clear enhancement is seen in the effective mass $m^{*}$ as the composition approaches the value that has been associated with a quantum critical point at optimum doping. However, a simultaneous increase in the superconducting carrier concentration $n_mathrm{s}$ maintains the superfluid density, yielding an apparent penetration depth $lambda$ that decreases with increasing $T_mathrm{c}$ without sharp divergence at the quantum critical point. Uemura scaling indicates that $T_mathrm{c}$ is governed by the Fermi temperature $T_mathrm{F}$ for this multi-band system.
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 $gamma_mathrm{r}={C/T}|_{T to 0}$ 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 $alpha$ model in order to investigate the gap structure. Close to optimal doping we detect a single zero-temperature gap of $Delta_0 sim 5.3,mathrm{meV}$, corresponding to $Delta_0 / k_mathrm{B} T_mathrm{c} sim 2.2$. Increasing the phosphorus concentration $x$, the main gap reduces till a value of $Delta_0 sim 1.9,mathrm{meV}$ for $x = 0.55$ and a second weaker gap becomes evident. From the magnetic field effect on $gamma_mathrm{r}$, all samples however show similar behavior [$gamma_mathrm{r}(H) - gamma_mathrm{r}(H=0) propto H^n$, with $n$ between 0.6 and 0.7]. This indicates that, despite a considerable redistribution of the gap weights, the total degree of gap anisotropy does not change drastically with doping.
We have systematically studied the low-temperature specific heat of the BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$ single crystals covering the whole superconducting dome. Using the nonsuperconducting heavily overdoped x = 0.3 sample as a reference for the phonon contribution to the specific heat, we find that the normal-state electronic specific heats in the superconducting samples may have a nonlinear temperature dependence, which challenges previous results in the electron-doped Ba-122 iron-based superconductors. A model based on the presence of ferromagnetic spin fluctuations may explain the data between x = 0.1 and x = 0.15, suggesting the important role of Fermi-surface topology in understanding the normal-state electronic states.
Low-temperature specific heat is measured on the overdoped Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2 (x = 0.13) single crystal under magnetic fields along three different directions. A clear anisotropy is observed on the field dependent electronic specific heat coefficient {gamma}(H). The value of {gamma}(H) is obviously larger with magnetic field along [001] (c-axis) than that within the ab-plane of the crystal lattice, which cannot be attributed to the effect by anisotropy of the upper critical field. Meanwhile, the data show a rather small difference when the direction of the field is rotated from [100] to [110] direction within the ab-plane. Our results suggest that a considerable part of the line nodes is not excited to contribute to the quasiparticle density of states by the field when the field is within the ab-plane. The constraints on the topology of the gap nodes are discussed based on our observations.
Low-temperature specific heat (SH) is measured on Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$)$_2$As$_2$ single crystals in a wide doping region under different magnetic fields. For the overdoped sample, we find the clear evidence for the presence of $T^2$ term in the data, which is absent both for the underdoped and optimal doped samples, suggesting the presence of line nodes in the energy gap of the overdoped samples. Moreover, the field induced electron specific heat coefficient $Deltagamma(H)$ increases more quickly with the field for the overdoped sample than the underdoped and optimal doped ones, giving another support to our arguments. Our results suggest that the superconducting gap(s) in the present system may have different structures strongly depending on the doping regions.
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 $gamma$-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 in a number of different layered superconductors.