Selective mass enhancement close to the quantum critical point in BaFe2(As1−x P x )2

Abstract

A quantum critical point (QCP) is currently being conjectured for the BaFe2(As1−x P x )2 system at the critical value x c  ≈ 0.3. In the proximity of a QCP, all thermodynamic and transport properties are expected to scale with a single characteristic energy, given by the quantum fluctuations. Such a universal behavior has not, however, been found in the superconducting upper critical field Hc2. Here we report Hc2 data for epitaxial thin films extracted from the electrical resistance measured in very high magnetic fields up to 67 Tesla. Using a multi-band analysis we find that Hc2 is sensitive to the QCP, implying a significant charge carrier effective mass enhancement at the doping-induced QCP that is essentially band-dependent. Our results point to two qualitatively different groups of electrons in BaFe2(As1−x P x )2. The first one (possibly associated to hot spots or whole Fermi sheets) has a strong mass enhancement at the QCP, and the second one is insensitive to the QCP. The observed duality could also be present in many other quantum critical systems.

Description
Keywords
Phase transitions and critical phenomena, Superconducting properties and materials, Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Citation
Grinenko, V., Iida, K., Kurth, F., Efremov, D. V., Drechsler, S.-L., Cherniavskii, I., et al. (2017). Selective mass enhancement close to the quantum critical point in BaFe2(As1−x P x )2. 7. https://doi.org//10.1038/s41598-017-04724-3
License
CC BY 4.0 Unported