Orbital selectivity of layer-resolved tunneling in the iron-based superconductor Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2

J.-X. Yin, X.-X. Wu, Jian Li, Zheng Wu, J.-H. Wang, C.-S. Ting, P.-H. Hor, X. J. Liang, C. L. Zhang, P. C. Dai, X. C. Wang, C. Q. Jin, G. F. Chen, J. P. Hu, Z.-Q. Wang, Ang Li, H. Ding, and S. H. Pan
Phys. Rev. B 102, 054515 – Published 21 August 2020
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

We use scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy to elucidate the Cooper pairing of the iron pnictide superconductor Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2. By a cold-cleaving technique, we obtain atomically resolved termination surfaces with different layer identities. Remarkably, we observe that the low-energy tunneling spectrum related to superconductivity has an unprecedented dependence on the layer identity. By cross referencing with the angle-revolved photoemission results and the tunneling data of LiFeAs, we find that tunneling on each termination surface probes superconductivity through selecting distinct Fe3d orbitals. These findings imply the real-space orbital features of the Cooper pairing in the iron pnictide superconductors, and propose a general concept that, for complex multiorbital material, tunneling on different terminating layers can feature orbital selectivity.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 20 March 2020
  • Revised 20 July 2020
  • Accepted 5 August 2020
  • Corrected 20 October 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.054515

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Corrections

20 October 2020

Correction: A conversion error resulted in wrong affiliation indicators to be set for the last author S. H. Pan in the PDF format and has been fixed. The HTML version was processed correctly, without incident.

Authors & Affiliations

J.-X. Yin1,*, X.-X. Wu1,*, Jian Li2, Zheng Wu2, J.-H. Wang2, C.-S. Ting2, P.-H. Hor2, X. J. Liang1, C. L. Zhang3, P. C. Dai3, X. C. Wang1, C. Q. Jin1,8, G. F. Chen1, J. P. Hu1,4, Z.-Q. Wang5, Ang Li2,6,7, H. Ding1,8,9, and S. H. Pan1,2,8,9,10,†

  • 1Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 2TCSUH and Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 5Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA
  • 6State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
  • 7CAS Center for Excellence in Superconducting Electronics, Shanghai 200050, China
  • 8School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 9CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 10Songshang Lake Material Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong 523808, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Corresponding author: span@iphy.ac.cn

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2020

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×