Nematic superconducting state in iron pnictide superconductors

Abstract

Nematic order often breaks the tetragonal symmetry of iron-based superconductors. It arises from regular structural transition or electronic instability in the normal phase. Here, we report the observation of a nematic superconducting state, by measuring the angular dependence of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistivity of Ba0.5K0.5Fe2As2 single crystals. We find large twofold oscillations in the vicinity of the superconducting transition, when the direction of applied magnetic field is rotated within the basal plane. To avoid the influences from sample geometry or current flow direction, the sample was designed as Corbino-shape for in-plane and mesa-shape for out-of-plane measurements. Theoretical analysis shows that the nematic superconductivity arises from the weak mixture of the quasi-degenerate s-wave and d-wave components of the superconducting condensate, most probably induced by a weak anisotropy of stresses inherent to single crystals.

15 pages, 4 figures, and Supplementary Information for 38 pages. Accepted to be published in Nature Communications

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• Spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking in KTaO${}_3$ heterointerface superconductors
• High-Temperature Majorana Fermions in Magnet-Superconductor Hybrid Systems
• Evidence for unconventional superconductivity in a spinel oxide
• Energy scale of nematic ordering in the parent iron-based superconductor:BaFe2As2
• Nematic Superconductivity and Its Critical Vestigial Phases in the Quasi-crystal
• Nematicity in the superconducting mixed state of strain detwinned underdoped $\text{Ba}({\text{Fe}}_{1-x}{\text{Co}}_x{)}_2{\text{As}}_2$
• Phonon-induced rotation of the electronic nematic director in superconducting Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Two-dimensional Fermi liquid dynamics with density and quadrupolar interactions
• Strong enhancement of magnetic order from bulk to stretched monolayer FeSe as Hund's metals
• Nonlinear uniaxial pressure dependence of $T_c$ in iron-based superconductors
• Local Structure of Mott Insulating Iron Oxychalcogenides La${}_2$O${}_2$Fe${}_2$O$M$${}_2$ ($M$ = S, Se)
• Stronger quantum fluctuation with larger spins: Emergent magnetism in the pressurized high-temperature superconductor FeSe
• Nematic superconductivity from selective orbital pairing in Ba(Fe1-xMx)2As2 (M = Co, Ni) single crystals
• Probing Fermi liquid exceptional points through AC conductivity
• The role of electromagnetic gauge-field fluctuations in the selection between chiral and nematic superconductivity
• Upper critical fields in high-$T_{\mathrm{c}}$ superconductors
• Superconducting order parameter structure in the nematic phase of iron-based materials
• Ubiquity of rotational symmetry breaking in superconducting films, from Fe(Te,Se)/Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$ to Nb, and the effect of measurement geometry
• Cuprates, Pnictides and Sulfosalts: Lessons in Functional Materials