Specific Heat Discontinuity, deltaC, at Tc in BaFe2(As0.7P0.3)2 - Consistent with Unconventional Superconductivity

TL;DR

This study measures the specific heat discontinuity at the superconducting transition in BaFe2(As0.7P0.3)2, revealing a scaling trend consistent with unconventional superconductivity and contrasting it with conventional superconductors.

Contribution

It extends the analysis of deltaC/Tc scaling to all known FePn/Ch superconductors, highlighting a distinct Tc dependence indicative of unconventional pairing mechanisms.

Findings

deltaC/Tc scales as Tc^1.9 in FePn/Ch superconductors

The ratio deltaC/gamma*Tc is similar across different superconductor classes

Contrasts the Tc dependence of deltaC in FePn/Ch with conventional superconductors

Abstract

We report the specific heat discontinuity, deltaC/Tc, at Tc = 28.2 K of a collage of single crystals of BaFe2(As0.7P0.3)2 and compare the measured value of 38.5 mJ/molK**2 with other iron pnictide and iron chalcogenide (FePn/Ch) superconductors. This value agrees well with the trend established by Bud'ko, Ni and Canfield who found that deltaC/Tc ~ a*Tc**2 for 14 examples of doped Ba1-xKxFe2As2 and BaFe2-xTMxAs2, where the transition metal TM=Co and Ni. We extend their analysis to include all the FePn/Ch superconductors for which deltaC/Tc is currently known and find deltaC/Tc ~ a*Tc**1.9 and a=0.083 mJ/molK**4. A comparison with the elemental superconductors with Tc>1 K and with A-15 superconductors shows that, contrary to the FePn/Ch superconductors, electron-phonon-coupled conventional superconductors exhibit a significantly different dependence of deltaC on Tc, namely deltaC/Tc ~ Tc**0.9. However deltaC/gamma*Tc appears to be comparable in all three classes (FePn/Ch, elemental and A-15) of superconductors with, e. g., deltaC/gamma*Tc=2.4 for BaFe2(As0.7P0.3)2. A discussion of the possible implications of these phenomenological comparisons for the unconventional superconductivity believed to exist in the FePn/Ch is given.