Abstract
We investigate the competition between the extended -wave and -wave pairing order parameters in the iron-based superconductors. Because of the frustrating pairing interactions among the electron and the hole Fermi pockets, a time-reversal symmetry breaking pairing state could be favored. We analyze this pairing state within the Ginzburg-Landau theory and explore the experimental consequences. In such a state, spatial inhomogeneity induces a supercurrent near a nonmagnetic impurity and the corners of a square sample. The resonance mode between the - and -wave order parameters can be detected through the Raman spectroscopy.
- Received 6 October 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.217002
©2009 American Physical Society