Andreev Bound states as a phase sensitive probe of the pairing symmetry of the iron pnictide superconductors

Abstract

A leading contender for the pairing symmetry in the Fe-pnictide high temperature superconductors is extended s-wave $s_{\pm }$, a nodeless state in which the pairing changes sign between Fermi surfaces. Verifying such a pairing symmetry requires a special phase sensitive probe that is also momentum selective. We show that the sign structure of $s_{\pm }$ pairing leads to surface Andreev bound states at the sample edge. In the clean limit they only occur when the edge is along the nearest neighbor Fe-Fe bond, but not for a diagonal edge or a surface orthogonal to the c-axis. In contrast to d-wave Andreev bound states, they are not at zero energy and, in general, do not produce a zero bias tunneling peak. Consequences for tunneling measurements are derived, within a simplified two band model and also for a more realistic five band model.

5 pages, 5 figures