Observation of strong electron pairing on bands without Fermi surfaces in LiFe1−xCoxAs

H. Miao, T. Qian (), X. Shi, P. Richard, T. K. Kim, M. Hoesch, L. Y. Xing, X.-C. Wang, C.-Q. Jin, J.-P. Hu and H. Ding ()
Additional contact information
H. Miao: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
T. Qian: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
X. Shi: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
P. Richard: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
T. K. Kim: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Campus
M. Hoesch: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Campus
L. Y. Xing: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
X.-C. Wang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
C.-Q. Jin: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
J.-P. Hu: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
H. Ding: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract In conventional BCS superconductors, the quantum condensation of superconducting electron pairs is understood as a Fermi surface instability, in which the low-energy electrons are paired by attractive interactions. Whether this explanation is still valid in high-Tc superconductors such as cuprates and iron-based superconductors remains an open question. In particular, a fundamentally different picture of the electron pairs, which are believed to be formed locally by repulsive interactions, may prevail. Here we report a high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study on LiFe1−xCoxAs. We reveal a large and robust superconducting gap on a band sinking below the Fermi level on Co substitution. The observed Fermi-surface-free superconducting order is also the largest over the momentum space, which rules out a proximity effect origin and indicates that the order parameter is not tied to the Fermi surface as a result of a surface instability.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7056 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7056

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7056

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().