The strong power law behavior of the specific heat jump $Delta C$ vs. $T_c$ ($Delta C/T_c sim T_c ^{alpha}, alphaapprox 2$), first observed by Budko, Ni, and Canfield (BNC)[1], has been confirmed with several families of the Fe-based superconducting
compounds with a series of doping. We show here that this anomalous non-BCS behavior is an intrinsic property of the multiband superconducting state paired by a dominant interband interaction ($V_{inter} > V_{intra}$) reflecting the relation $frac{Delta_h}{Delta_e} sim sqrt{frac{N_e}{N_h}}$ near $T_c$, as in the $pm$S-wave pairing state. Then this $Delta C$ vs. $T_c$ relation can continuously change from the perfect BNC scaling to a considerable deviation at lower $T_c$ region with a moderate variation of the impurity scattering rate.
We report a study of the lattice dynamics in superconducting NaFeAs (Tc = 8 K) and doped NaFe0.97Co0.03As (Tc = 20 K) using Raman light scattering. Five of the six phonon modes expected from group theory are observed. In contrast with results obtaine
d on iso-structural and iso-electronic LiFeAs, anomalous broadening of Eg(As) and A1g(Na) modes upon cooling is observed in both samples. In addition, in the Co-doped sample, a superconductivity-induced renormalization of the frequency and linewidth of the B1g(Fe) vibration is observed. This renormalization can not be understood within a single band and simple multi-band approaches. A theoretical model that includes the effects of SDW correlations along with sign-changing s-wave pairing state and interband scattering has been developed to explain the observed behavior of the B1g(Fe) mode.
The electron band around $M$ point in (Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$)Fe$_2$As$_2$ compound -- completely lifted above the Fermi level for $x > 0.7$ and hence has no Fermi Surface (FS) -- can still form an isotropic s-wave gap ($Delta_e$) and it is the main pairing
resource generating an s-wave gap ($Delta_h$) with an opposite sign on the hole pocket around $Gamma$ point. The electron band developing the SC order parameter $Delta_e$ but having no FS displays a {it shadow gap} feature which will be easily detected by various experimental probes such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Finally, the formation of the nodal gap $Delta_{nodal}$ with $A_{1g}$ symmetry on the other hole pocket with a larger FS is stabilized due to the balance of the interband pairing interactions from the main hole band gap $Delta_h=+Delta$ and the hidden electron band gap $Delta_e = -Delta$.
Contrary to the longtime and widely conceived belief, we proved that the specific heat coefficient $gamma$ --also called Sommerfeld coefficient -- of the interacting Fermion system is not renormalized by the wave-function renormalization factor $Z$ as far as the system remains a Fermi liquid state.
We reexamined the experimental evidences for the possible existence of the superconducting (SC) gap nodes in the three most suspected Fe-pnictide SC compounds: LaFePO, BaFe$_2$(As$_{0.67}$P$_{0.33}$)$_2$, and KFe$_2$As$_2$. We showed that while the $
T$-linear temperature dependence of the penetration depth $lambda(T)$ of these three compounds indicate extremely clean nodal gap superconductors, the thermal conductivity data $lim_{T,H rightarrow 0} kappa_S (H,T)/T$ unambiguously showed that LaFePO and BaFe$_2$(As$_{0.67}$P$_{0.33}$)$_2$ are extremely dirty, while KFe$_2$As$_2$ can be clean. This apparently conflicting experimental data casts a serious doubt on the nodal gap possibility on LaFePO and BaFe$_2$(As$_{0.67}$P$_{0.33}$)$_2$.
We studied the Volovik effect on the NMR measurements of the two unconventional superconducting (SC) states, the d-wave and $pm$s-wave states. We showed the generic field dependencies of the spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ and Knight shift $K$ a
t low temperature limit in the pure cases as: $1/T_1 propto H log H$, $K propto sqrt{H}$ for the d-wave, and $1/T_1 propto H$, $K propto H$ for the $pm$s-wave state, respectively. Performing numerical calculations we showed that these generic power laws survive for the good part of low field region with the realistic amount of impurities. We also found that the Volovik effect acts as an equivalent pair breaker as the unitary impurity scattering, hence induces the same temperature evolutions on $1/T_1$ and $K$, respectively, as the unitary impurities in both SC states. This finding implies that the Volovik effect should always be taken into account for the analysis of the NMR measurements in the mixed state.
