Impurity-induced bound states in iron-based superconductors with s-wave cos(kx)cos(ky) pairing symmetry

TL;DR

This study investigates impurity-induced in-gap bound states in iron-based superconductors with s-wave cos(kx)cos(ky) pairing, revealing distinctive signatures for sign-changing versus non-sign-changing states using advanced theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of impurity effects in iron-based superconductors, highlighting the unique bound state signatures associated with sign-changing s-wave pairing symmetry.

Findings

Non-magnetic impurities induce symmetric in-gap bound states only in sign-changing s-wave superconductors.

Magnetic impurities cause spin-polarized bound states and a quantum phase transition with increasing scattering strength.

Bound states are more robust in sign-changing s-wave states, with no $$ phase shift in strong scattering regimes.

Abstract

Using both the self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes formulation and non-self-consistent T-matrix approach, we perform a comprehensive investigation of the in-gap bound states induced by a localized single impurity in iron-based superconductors. We focus on studying signatures associated with the unconventional sign-changed s-wave pairing symmetry. For a non-magnetic impurity, we find that there are two in-gap bounds, symmetric with respect to zero energy, only in the sign changed s-wave pairing state, not in the sign-unchanged s-wave state, due to the existence of non-trivial Andreev bound states caused by the sign change. For a magnetic impurity, we find that due to the breakdown of the local time-reversal symmetry, there exist only bound state solutions (with orbital degeneracy) carrying one of the electron-spin polarizations around the impurity. As increasing the scattering strength, the system undergoes a quantum phase transition (level crossing) from a spin-unpolarized ground state to a spin-polarized one. While the results for the magnetic impurity are qualitatively similar in both the sign-changed and sign-unchanged s-wave superconducting states, the bound states in the first case are more robust and there is no $\pi$ phase shift of the SC gap near the impurity in the strong scattering regime.