Quasiparticle Excitations in the Superconducting State of FeSe Probed by Thermal Hall Conductivity in the Vicinity of the BCS-BEC Crossover


Abstract in English

There is growing evidence that the superconducting semimetal FeSe ($T_csim8$ K) is in the crossover regime between weak-coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and strong-coupling Bose-Einstein-condensate (BEC) limits. We report on longitudinal and transverse thermal conductivities, $kappa_{xx}$ and $kappa_{xy}$, respectively, in magnetic fields up to 20 T. The field dependences of $kappa_{xx}$ and $kappa_{xy}$ imply that a highly anisotropic small superconducting gap forms at the electron Fermi-surface pocket whereas a more isotropic and larger gap forms at the hole pocket. Below $sim1.0$ K, both $kappa_{xx}$ and $kappa_{xy}$ exhibit distinct anomalies (kinks) at the upper critical field $H_{c2}$ and at a field $H^*$ slightly below $H_{c2}$. The analysis of the thermal Hall angle ($kappa_{xy}/kappa_{xx}$) indicates a change of the quasiparticle scattering rate at $H^*$. These results provide strong support to the previous suggestion that above $H^*$ a distinct field-induced superconducting phase emerges with an unprecedented large spin imbalance.

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