Electronic identification of the actual parental phase of KxFe2-ySe2 superconductor and its intrinsic mesoscopic phase separation

TL;DR

This study uses ARPES to identify multiple phases in KxFe2-ySe2, revealing mesoscopic phase separation and Mott-like insulating behavior, which suggests doping of a semiconducting phase leads to superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides direct ARPES evidence of phase separation and Mott-like physics in KxFe2-ySe2, clarifying the relationship between insulating, semiconducting, and superconducting phases.

Findings

Identification of two insulating and one semiconducting phase.

Evidence of mesoscopic phase separation.

Superconductivity likely develops from doping the semiconducting phase.

Abstract

While the parent compounds of the cuprate high temperature superconductors (high-Tc's) are Mott insulators, the iron-pnictide high-Tc's are in the vicinity of a metallic spin density wave (SDW) state, which highlights the difference between these two families. However, insulating parent compounds were identified for the newly discovered KxFe2-ySe2. This raises an intriguing question as to whether the iron-based high-Tc's could be viewed as doped Mott insulators like the cuprates. Here we report angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) evidence of two insulating and one semiconducting phases of KxFe2-ySe2, and the mesoscopic phase separation between the superconducting/semiconducting phase and the insulating phases. The insulating phases are characterized by the depletion of electronic states over a 0.5 eV window below the chemical potential, giving a compelling evidence for the presence of Mott-like physics. The charging effects and the absence of band folding in the superconducting/semiconducting phase further prove that the static magnetic and vacancy orders are not related to the superconductivity. Instead, the electronic structure of the superconducting phase is much closer to the semiconducting phase, indicating the superconductivity is likely developed by doping the semiconducting phase rather than the insulating phases.