Point-contact spectroscopy of the iron chalcogenide superconductors: interplay between multiband superconductivity and magnetism

ORAL

Abstract

We report point-contact conductance measurements on the iron chalcogenide superconductors, Fe$_{1+y}$Te$_{1-x}$Se$_{x}$. The excess Fe atoms are known to occupy the interstitial sites in the Te-Se plane, affecting the superconductivity as well as the magnetism in this family. For a compound having nominal values of y=0 and x=0.45, a single superconducting transition is observed at 14.2 K. In the superconducting state, BTK-like double peak structures due to Andreev reflection are observed. However, the peak position of different point contacts falls to a wide voltage range, 1.5 -- 4 mV. Additional multiple humps are sometimes observed in a much higher bias voltage range, 8 -- 15 mV. Most strikingly, conductance enhancement persists well above T$_{c}$. We will present possible interpretations of these experimental observations in terms of multiband superconductivity and the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism.

*The work at UIUC is supported by the U.S. DOE under Award No. DE-FG02-07ER46453 and by NSF-DMR-0706013 through FSMRL and CMM, and the work at BNL is carried out under U.S. DOE Award No. DE-AC0298CH10886.

Authors

  • W.K. Park

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign
  • C.R. Hunt

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • H.Z. Arham

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • X. Lu

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Laura Greene

    • Physics and FSMRL, UIUC
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign
    • University of Illinois
  • Z.J. Xu

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • J.S. Wen

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • Z.W. Lin

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • Q. Li

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • G.D. Gu

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Brookhaven Natl. Lab.
    • Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973