Impurity scattering effects on the superconducting properties and the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition in FeSe

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the doping dependence of the phase diagram of FeSe-based superconductors is still required due to the lack of a clean and systematic means of doping control. Here, we report on the magneto-optical imaging, thermodynamic and transport properties, as well as in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies of impurity scattering in stoichiometric FeSe single crystals. Co doping at the Fe site is found to decrease the superconducting transition temperature (Tc). The upper critical field and specific heat all indicate a possible multiband superconductivity with strong coupling in the Co-doped system. A remarkable feature in FeSe is that its temperature dependent resistivity exhibits a wide hump at high temperatures, a signature of a crossover from a semiconductinglike behavior to metallic behavior. A structural tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition (Ts) (a consequence of the electronic nematicity) is suppressed by either physical or chemical pressures. Due to the reconstruction of the Fermi surface at Ts, specific heat anomalies at Ts present ΔCp/Ts≈γn, being γn the Sommerfield coefficient at low temperature. This reflect an additional electronic instability in the FeSe1-xSx system. ARPES data between 180 and 282 K indicates the existence of a chemical potential shift with increasing thermal excitations, resulting in a change of the Fermi-surface topology and exhibiting a semimetal behavior. We found that the temperature-induced Lifshitz transition is much higher than the temperature for the nematic order. © 2016 American Physical Society.