Superconducting Gap and Symmetry in FeSe_1-x_Te_x_ Studied by Specific Heat in Magnetic Fields

In order to investigate details of the superconducting (SC) gap in the iron-chalcogenide superconductors, the specific heat, C, of FeSe_1-x_Te_x_ with x=0.6-1 has been measured in magnetic fields. Using the two-gap model, it has been found that the smaller SC gap is significantly depressed by the application of magnetic field, resulting in the increase of the slope of the C/T vs T^2^ plot at low temperatures. From the specific-heat measurements at very low temperatures down to 0.4 K, it has been found that the enhancement of the residual electronic-specific-heat-coefficient in the ground state, gamma_0_, by the application of magnetic field is much smaller than that expected for superconductors with the typical s-wave or d-wave SC paring symmetry, which is in sharp contrast to the significant enhancement of gamma_0 observed in the iron-pnictide superconductors. These results are discussed in relation to the multi-band effect in the iron-based superconductors.

Specific-heat study of superconducting and normal states in FeSe1-xTex (0.6<=x<=1) single crystals: Strong-coupling superconductivity, strong electron-correlation, and inhomogeneity

The electronic specific heat of as-grown and annealed single-crystals of FeSe1-xTex (0.6<=x<=1) has been investigated. It has been found that annealed single-crystals with x=0.6-0.9 exhibit bulk superconductivity with a clear specific-heat jump at the superconducting (SC) transition temperature, Tc. Both 2Delta_0/kBTc [Delta_0: the SC gap at 0 K estimated using the single-band BCS s-wave model] and Delta C/(gamma_n-gamma_0)Tc [Delta C$: the specific-heat jump at Tc, gamma_n: the electronic specific-heat coefficient in the normal state, gamma_0: the residual electronic specific-heat coefficient at 0 K in the SC state] are largest in the well-annealed single-crystal with x=0.7, i.e., 4.29 and 2.76, respectively, indicating that the superconductivity is of the strong coupling. The thermodynamic critical field has also been estimated. gamma_n has been found to be one order of magnitude larger than those estimated from the band calculations and increases with increasing x at x=0.6-0.9, which is surmised to be due to the increase in the electronic effective mass, namely, the enhancement of the electron correlation. It has been found that there remains a finite value of gamma_0 in the SC state even in the well-annealed single-crystals with x=0.8-0.9, suggesting an inhomogeneous electronic state in real space and/or momentum space.