Evidence of a universal and isotropic 2\Delta/kBTC ratio in 122-type iron pnictide superconductors over a wide doping range

TL;DR

This study reveals a universal, isotropic superconducting gap with a consistent 2Δ/kBTC ratio in 122-type iron pnictide superconductors across various doping levels, indicating a common pairing mechanism.

Contribution

It provides systematic experimental evidence of a universal and isotropic superconducting gap in 122-type iron pnictides over a wide doping range, using point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy.

Findings

The superconducting gap scales with transition temperature (~3.1 for 2Δ/kBTC).

The gap is isotropic in both c-axis and ab-plane directions.

A universal coupling behavior is observed across different doping levels.

Abstract

We have systematically investigated the doping and the directional dependence of the gap structure in the 122-type iron pnictide superconductors by point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy. The studies were performed on single crystals of Ba1-xKxFe2As2 (x = 0.29, 0.49, and 0.77) and SrFe1.74Co0.26As2 with a sharp tip of Pb or Au pressed along the c-axis or the ab-plane direction. The conductance spectra obtained on highly transparent contacts clearly show evidence of a robust superconducting gap. The normalized curves can be well described by the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model with a lifetime broadening. The determined gap value scales very well with the transition temperature, giving the 2{\Delta}/kBTC value of ~ 3.1. The results suggest the presence of a universal coupling behavior in this class of iron pnictides over a broad doping range and independent of the sign of the doping. Moreover, conductance spectra obtained on c-axis junctions and ab-plane junctions indicate that the observed gap is isotropic in these superconductors.