Nematic superconducting state in iron pnictide superconductors. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Jun; Pereira, Paulo; Yuan, Jie; Lv, Yang-Yang; Jiang, Mei-Ping; Lu, Dachuan; Lin, Zi-Quan; Liu, Yong-Jie; Wang, Jun-Feng; Li, Liang; Ke, Xiaoxing; Van Tendeloo, Gustaaf; Li, Meng-Yue; Feng, Hai-Luke; Hatano, Takeshi; Wang, Hua-Bing; Wu, Pei-Heng; Yamaura, Kazunari; Takayama-Muromachi, Eiji; Vanacken, Johan; Chibotaru, Liviu; Moshchalkov, Victor
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 8:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02016-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

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 Ba0.5 K0.5 Fe2 As2 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-degenerates -wave andd -wave components of the superconducting condensate, most probably induced by a weak anisotropy of stresses inherent to single crystals. Nematic electronic order is rare and its onset often indicates a phase transition. Here, Li et al. report a nematic superconducting state in Ba0.5 K0.5 Fe2 As2 by measuring the angular dependence of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistivity.