Specific heat in KFe2As2 in zero and applied magnetic field

TL;DR

This study measures the specific heat of KFe2As2 at very low temperatures and in magnetic fields, revealing Fermi liquid behavior and clarifying the nature of low-temperature features previously attributed to multiple gaps or impurities.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed low-temperature specific heat measurements of KFe2As2, demonstrating Fermi liquid behavior and clarifying the origin of low-temperature anomalies as impurity effects rather than multiple superconducting gaps.

Findings

Fermi liquid behavior observed in KFe2As2 at low temperatures.

The shoulder feature around 0.7 K is due to magnetic impurities, not a second gap.

No increase in normal state specific heat as T approaches zero.

Abstract

The specific heat down to 0.08 K of the iron pnictide superconductor KFe2As2 was measured on a single crystal sample with a residual resistivity ratio of ~650, with an onset Tc determined by specific heat of 3.7 K. The zero field normal state specific heat divided by temperature, C/T, was extrapolated from above Tc to T=0 by insisting on agreement between the extrapolated normal state entropy at Tc, Sn(Tc), and the measured superconducting state entropy at Tc, Ss(Tc), since for a second order phase transition the two entropies must be equal. This extrapolation would indicate that this rather clean sample of KFe2As2 exhibits non-Fermi liquid behavior, i. e. C/T increases at low temperatures, in agreement with the reported non-Fermi liquid behavior in the resistivity. However, specific heat as a function of magnetic field shows that the shoulder feature around 0.7 K, which is commonly seen in KFe2As2 samples, is not evidence for a second superconducting gap as has been previously proposed but instead is due to an unknown magnetic impurity phase, which can affect the entropy balance and the extrapolation of the normal state specific heat. This peak (somewhat larger in magnitude) with similar field dependence is also found in a less pure sample of KFe2As2, with a residual resistivity ratio of only 90 and an onset Tc=3.1 K. These data, combined with the measured normal state specific heat in field to suppress superconductivity, allow the conclusion that an increase in the normal state specific heat as T->0 is in fact not seen in KFe2As2, i. e. Fermi liquid behavior is observed.