Resistive anisotropy due to spin-fluctuation scattering in the nematic phase of iron pnictides

TL;DR

This paper explains the large in-plane resistive anisotropy in the nematic phase of iron pnictides through a detailed Boltzmann transport analysis, emphasizing the role of spin-fluctuation scattering and Fermi surface geometry.

Contribution

It introduces a model that accounts for doping-dependent resistive anisotropy without assuming anisotropic impurities, highlighting the importance of hot spots and pocket ellipticity.

Findings

Resistive anisotropy explained by momentum-dependent spin-fluctuation scattering.

Hot spots contribute significantly to anisotropy even with strong spin fluctuations.

Electron pocket ellipticity influences the sign and magnitude of anisotropy.

Abstract

The large in-plane anisotropy of the resistivity is a hallmark of the nematic state of the iron pnictides. Solving the Boltzmann transport equation, we show that the prominent doping dependence as well as the large values of the anisotropy can be well explained by momentum-dependent spin-fluctuation scattering without assuming anisotropic impurity states. Due to the forward-scattering corrections, the hot spots contribute to the resistive anisotropy even in the case of strong spin fluctuations, which makes large values of the anisotropy possible. The ellipticity of the electron pockets plays an important role in explaining the dominance of positive values of the anisotropy, i.e., larger resistivity in the direction with weaker spin fluctuations, throughout the doping range.