Visualizing nematic transition and nanoscale suppression of superconductivity in Fe(Te,Se)

Abstract

The interplay of different electronic phases underlies the physics of unconventional superconductors. One of the most intriguing examples is a high-Tc superconductor FeTe1-xSex: it undergoes both a topological transition, linked to the electronic band inversion, and an electronic nematic phase transition, associated with rotation symmetry breaking, around the same critical composition xc where superconducting Tc peaks. At this regime, nematic fluctuations and symmetry-breaking strain could have an enormous impact, but this is yet to be fully explored. Using spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy, we study the electronic nematic transition in FeTe1-xSex as a function of composition. Near xc, we reveal the emergence of electronic nematicity in nanoscale regions. Interestingly, we discover that superconductivity is drastically suppressed in areas where static nematic order is the strongest. By analyzing atomic displacement in STM topographs, we find that small anisotropic strain can give rise to these strongly nematic localized regions. Our experiments reveal a tendency of FeTe1-xSex near x~0.45 to form puddles hosting static nematic order, suggestive of nematic fluctuations pinned by structural inhomogeneity, and demonstrate a pronounced effect of anisotropic strain on superconductivity in this regime.

This is the original submitted version. The final version will appear in Nature Physics

References in corpus (7)

• Evidence for an electron nematic phase transition in underdoped iron pnictide superconductors
• Superconductivity close to magnetic instability in Fe(Se1-xTex)0.82
• A review of Fe-chalcogenide superconductors: the simplest Fe-based superconductor
• Enhancement of superconductivity near a nematic quantum critical point
• Zero-energy vortex bound state in the superconducting topological surface state of Fe(Se,Te)
• Observation of a Robust Zero-energy Bound State in Iron-based Superconductor Fe(Te,Se)
• Bulk superconductivity in FeTe${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$ via physicochemical pumping of excess iron

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Electronic nematicity without charge density waves in titanium-based kagome metal
• Non-Thermal Emergence of an Orbital-Selective Mott Phase in FeTe${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$
• Correlation-Driven Electronic Reconstruction in FeTe${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$
• Two distinct superconducting states controlled by orientation of local wrinkles in LiFeAs
• Signatures of a Quantum Griffiths Phase close to an Electronic Nematic Quantum Phase Transition
• Phase diagrams on composition-spread Fe${}_y$Te${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$ films
• Quantifying magnetic field driven lattice distortions in kagome metals at the femto-scale using scanning tunneling microscopy
• High-order van Hove singularities and nematic instability in the kagome superconductor CsTi${}_3$Bi${}_5$
• Rotation of the dislocation grid in multilayer FeSe films and visualization of electronic nematic domains via orbital-selective tunneling
• Topologically trivial gap-filling in superconducting Fe(Se,Te) by one dimensional defects
• Nanoscale strain manipulation of smectic susceptibility in kagome superconductors
• Signatures of Amorphous Shiba State in FeTe${}_{0.55}$Se${}_{0.45}$
• Piezostrain-induced in-plane anisotropy of superconducting transition temperature for FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films
• A Landau Theory for Pair Density Modulation in Fe(Te,Se) flakes
• Boost of critical current density near quantum critical points in FeSe-Based superconductors with two superconducting domes