No Arabic abstract
We compare electronic structures of single FeSe layer films on SrTiO$_3$ substrate (FeSe/STO) and K$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$ superconductors obtained from extensive LDA and LDA+DMFT calculations with the results of ARPES experiments. It is demonstrated that correlation effects on Fe-3d states are sufficient in principle to explain the formation of the shallow electron -- like bands at the M(X)-point. However, in FeSe/STO these effects alone are apparently insufficient for the simultaneous elimination of the hole -- like Fermi surface around the $Gamma$-point which is not observed in ARPES experiments. Detailed comparison of ARPES detected and calculated quasiparticle bands shows reasonable agreement between theory and experiment. Analysis of the bands with respect to their origin and orbital composition shows, that for FeSe/STO system the experimentally observed replica quasiparticle band at the M-point (usually attributed to forward scattering interactions with optical phonons in SrTiO$_3$ substrate) can be reasonably understood just as the LDA calculated Fe-3d$_{xy}$ band, renormalized by electronic correlations. The only manifestation of the substrate reduces to lifting the degeneracy between Fe-3d$_{xz}$ and Fe-3d$_{yz}$ bands in the vicinity of M-point. For the case of K$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$ most bands observed in ARPES can also be understood as correlation renormalized Fe-3d LDA calculated bands, with overall semi -- quantitative agreement with LDA+DMFT calculations.
The observation of replica bands by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy has ignited interest in the study of electron-phonon coupling at low carrier densities, particularly in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO$_3$, where the appearance of replica bands has motivated theoretical work suggesting that the interfacial coupling of electrons in the FeSe layer to optical phonons in the SrTiO$_3$ substrate might contribute to the enhanced superconducting pairing temperature. Alternatively, it has also been recently proposed that such replica bands might instead originate from extrinsic final state losses associated with the photoemission process. Here, we perform a quantitative examination of replica bands in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO$_3$, where we are able to conclusively demonstrate that the replica bands are indeed signatures of intrinsic electron-boson coupling, and not associated with final state effects. A detailed analysis of the energy splittings between the higher-order replicas, as well as other self-energy effects, allow us to determine that the interfacial electron-phonon coupling in the system corresponds to a value of $lambda = 0.19 pm 0.02$.
The interplay of orbital and spin degrees of freedom is the fundamental characteristic in numerous condensed matter phenomena, including high temperature superconductivity, quantum spin liquids, and topological semimetals. In iron-based superconductors (FeSCs), this causes superconductivity to emerge in the vicinity of two other instabilities: nematic and magnetic. Unveiling the mutual relationship among nematic order, spin fluctuations, and superconductivity has been a major challenge for research in FeSCs, but it is still controversial. Here, by carrying out 77Se nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on FeSe single crystals, doped by cobalt and sulfur that serve as control parameters, we demonstrate that the superconducting transition temperature Tc increases in proportion to the strength of spin fluctuations, while it is independent of the nematic transition temperature Tnem. Our observation therefore directly implies that superconductivity in FeSe is essentially driven by spin fluctuations in the intermediate coupling regime, while nematic fluctuations have a marginal impact on Tc.
The discovery of enhanced superconductivity (SC) in FeSe films grown on SrTiO3 (FeSe/STO) has revitalized the field of Fe-based superconductors. In the ultrathin limit, the superconducting transition temperature Tc is increased by almost an order of magnitude, raising new questions on the pairing mechanism. As in other unconventional superconductors, antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations have been proposed as a candidate to mediate SC in this system. Thus, it is essential to study the evolution of the spin dynamics of FeSe in the ultrathin limit to elucidate their relationship with superconductivity. Here, we investigate and compare the spin excitations in bulk and monolayer FeSe grown on STO using high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations. Despite the absence of long-range magnetic order, bulk FeSe displays dispersive magnetic excitations reminiscent of other Fe-pnictides. Conversely, the spin excitations in FeSe/STO are gapped, dispersionless, and significantly hardened relative to the bulk counterpart. By comparing our RIXS results with simulations of a bilayer Hubbard model, we connect the evolution of the spin excitations to the Fermiology of the two systems. The present study reveals a remarkable reconfiguration of spin excitations in FeSe/STO, which is essential to understand the role of spin fluctuations in the pairing mechanism.
In semiconductor electronics, the field-effect refers to the control of electrical conductivity in nanoscale devices, which underpins the field-effect transistor, one of the cornerstones of present-day semiconductor technology. The effect is enabled by the penetration of the electric field far into a weakly doped semiconductor, whose charge density is not sufficient to screen the field. On the contrary, the charge density in metals and superconductors is so large that the field decays exponentially from the surface and can penetrate only a short distance into the material. Hence, the field-effect should not exist in such materials. Nonetheless, recent publications have reported observation of the field-effect in superconductors and proximised normal metal nanodevices. The effect was discovered in gated nanoscale superconducting constrictions as a suppression of the critical current under the application of intense electric field and interpreted in terms of an electric-field induced perturbation propagating inside the superconducting film. Here we show that ours, and previously reported observations, governed by the overheating of the constriction, without recourse to novel physics. The origin of the overheating is a leakage current between the gate and the constriction, which perfectly follows the Fowler-Nordheim model of electron field emission from a metal electrode.c`
The mechanism behind the nematicity of FeSe is not known. Through elastoresitivity measurements it has been shown to be an electronic instability. However, so far measurements have extended only to small strains, where the response is linear. Here, we apply large elastic strains to FeSe, and perform two types of measurements. (1) Using applied strain to control twinning, the nematic resistive anisotropy at temperatures below the nematic transition temperature Ts is determined. (2) Resistive anisotropy is measured as nematicity is induced through applied strain at fixed temperature above Ts. In both cases, as nematicity strengthens the resistive anisotropy peaks about about 7%, then decreases. Below ~40 K, the nematic resistive anisotropy changes sign. We discuss possible implications of this behaviour for theories of nematicity. We report in addition: (1) Under experimentally accessible conditions with bulk crystals, stress, rather than strain, is the conjugate field to the nematicity of FeSe. (2) At low temperatures the twin boundary resistance is ~10% of the sample resistance, and must be properly subtracted to extract intrinsic resistivities. (3) Biaxial inplane compression increases both in-plane resistivity and the superconducting critical temperature Tc, consistent with a strong role of the yz orbital in the electronic correlations.