Interplane resistivity of underdoped single crystals (Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$)Fe$_2$As$_2$, $0 \leq x<0.34$

M. A. Tanatar; W. E. Straszheim; Hyunsoo Kim; J. Murphy; N. Spyrison; E. C. Blomberg; K. Cho; J. -Ph. Reid; Bing Shen; Louis Taillefer; Hai-Hu Wen; R. Prozorov

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.89.144514

paper

Interplane resistivity of underdoped single crystals (Ba $_{1 - x}$ K $_{x}$ )Fe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ , $0 \leq x < 0.34$

arXiv:1404.3664 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.89.144514

Abstract

Temperature-dependent inter-plane resistivity, $I ¨ _{c} (T)$ , was measured in hole-doped iron-arsenide superconductor (Ba $_{1 - x}$ K $_{x}$ )Fe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ over a doping range from parent compound to optimal doping $T_{c} \approx 38 K$ , $0 \leq x \leq 0.34$ . Measurements were undertaken on high-quality single crystals grown from FeAs flux. The coupled magnetic/structural transition at $T_{S M}$ leads to clear accelerated decrease of $I ¨ _{c} (T)$ on cooling in samples with $T_{c} <$ 26~K ( $x < 0.25$ ). This decrease in hole-doped material is in notable contrast to an increase in $I ¨ _{c} (T)$ in the electron-doped Ba(Fe $_{1 - x}$ Co $_{x}$ )Fe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ and iso-electron substituted BaFe $_{2}$ (As $_{1 - x}$ P $_{x}$ ) $_{2}$ . The $T_{S M}$ decreases very sharply with doping, dropping from $T_{s}$ =71~K to zero on increase of $T_{c}$ from approximately 25 to 27~K. The $I ¨ _{c} (T)$ becomes $T$ -linear close to optimal doping. The broad crossover maximum in $I ¨ _{c} (T)$ , found in the parent BaFe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ at around $T_{ma x} \sim$ 200~K, shifts to higher temperature $\sim$ 250~K with doping $x$ =0.34. The maximum shows clear correlation with the broad crossover feature found in the temperature-dependent in-plane resistivity $I ¨ _{a} (T)$ . The doping evolution of $T_{ma x}$ in (Ba $_{1 - x}$ K $_{x}$ )Fe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ is in notable contrast with both rapid suppression of $T_{ma x}$ found in Ba(Fe $_{1 - x} T M_{x}$ ) $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ ( $T M$ =Co,Rh,Ni,Pd) and its rapid increase BaFe $_{2}$ (As $_{1 - x}$ P $_{x}$ ) $_{2}$ . This observation suggest that pseudogap features are much stronger in hole-doped than in electron-doped iron-based superconductors, revealing significant electron-hole doping asymmetry similar to the cuprates. This paper replaces: cond-mat:1106.0533.

Interplane resistivity of underdoped single crystals (Ba1−x​Kx​)Fe2​As2​, 0≤x<0.34

Abstract

Interplane resistivity of underdoped single crystals (Ba $_{1 - x}$ K $_{x}$ )Fe $_{2}$ As $_{2}$ , $0 \leq x < 0.34$