Orbital and Pauli limiting effects in heavily doped Ba$_{\mathrm{0.05}}$K$_{\mathrm{0.95}}$Fe$_{\mathrm{2}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$.

ORAL

Abstract

We investigated the thermodynamic properties of the Fe-based lightly-disordered superconductor Ba$_{\mathrm{0.05}}$K$_{\mathrm{0.95}}$Fe$_{\mathrm{2}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$ in external magnetic field H applied along the FeAs layers (H\textbar \textbar ab planes). The superconducting (SC) transition temperature for this doping level is T$_{\mathrm{c}} \quad =$ 6.6 K. Our analysis of the specific heat C(T,H) measured for T\textless T$_{\mathrm{c}}$ implies a sign change of the superconducting order parameter across different Fermi pockets. We provide experimental evidence for the three components superconducting order parameter. We find that all three components have values which are comparable with the previously reported ones for the stoichiometric compound KFe$_{\mathrm{2}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$. Our data for C(T,H) and resistivity $\rho $(T, H) can be interpreted in favor of the dominant orbital contribution to the pair-breaking mechanism at low fields, while Pauli limiting effect dominates at high fields, giving rise to a gapless superconducting state with only the leading non-zero gap.

*This work has been supported by the US NSF (Grant Nos. DMR-1506547 and DMR-1505826) at KSU. M.D. also acknowledges financial support from KSU and MPI-PKS.

Authors

  • S. Zhang

    • Kent State University
  • Y. P. Singh

    • Kent State University
  • X. Y. Huang

    • Kent State University
  • Xiao-Jia Chen

    • Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, Shanghai, 201203, China
    • Shanghai Laboratory of High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research
    • Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, Shanghai 201203, China
    • Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research (HPStar), Shanghai, China
  • M. Dzero

    • Kent State University
  • C. C. Almasan

    • Kent State University