Enhancement of superconductivity in FeSe thin crystals induced by biaxial compressive strain


Enhancement of superconductivity in FeSe thin crystals induced by biaxial compressive strain

Wang, X. F.; Zhang, Z. T.; Wang, W. K.; Zhou, Y. H.; Kan, X. C.; Chen, X. L.; Gu, C. C.; Zhang, L.; Pi, L.; Yang, Z. R.; Zhang, Y. H.

We report on the enhancement of superconductivity in FeSe thin crystals induced by in-plane biaxial compressive strain, with an underlying scotch tape as an in-situ strain generator. It is found that, due to the compressive strain, the superconducting transition temperature Tc ≈ 9 K of FeSe is increased by 30%–40% and the upper critical field Hc2(0) ≈ 14.8 T is increased by ∼ 20%. In parallel, the T*, which characterizes an onset of enhanced spin fluctuations, is raised up from 69 K to 87 K. On the other hand, the structural transition temperature Ts ≈ 94 K, below which an orthorhombic structure and an electronic nematic phase settle in, is suppressed down by ∼ 5 K. These findings reveal clear evolutions of the orders/fluctuations under strain effect in FeSe, the structurally simplest iron-based superconductor where the lattice/spin/charge degrees of freedom are closely coupled to one another. Moreover, the presented research provides a simple and clean way to manipulate the superconductivity in the layered iron compounds and may promote applications in related materials. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Biaxial compressive strains; FeSe; Superconductivity

Downloads

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-25736
Publ.-Id: 25736