Spin-Fluctuation-Induced Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior with suppressed superconductivity in LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As

TL;DR

This study investigates how spin fluctuations influence non-Fermi-liquid behavior and superconductivity suppression in LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As, revealing a phase diagram where NFL behavior is linked to spin fluctuations and Fermi surface nesting.

Contribution

It provides a detailed phase diagram showing the relationship between spin fluctuations, NFL behavior, and superconductivity in LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As, highlighting the role of Fermi surface nesting.

Findings

NFL behavior correlates with enhanced low-energy spin fluctuations.

Superconductivity is monotonically suppressed with Co doping.

NFL region appears at the boundary of the superconducting phase.

Abstract

A series of LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As compounds with different Co concentrations have been studied by transport, optical spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. We observed a Fermi liquid to non-Fermi liquid to Fermi liquid (FL-NFL-FL) crossover alongside a monotonic suppression of the superconductivity with increasing Co content. In parallel to the FL-NFL-FL crossover, we found that both the low-energy spin fluctuations and Fermi surface nesting are enhanced and then diminished, strongly suggesting that the NFL behavior in LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As is induced by low-energy spin fluctuations which are very likely tuned by Fermi surface nesting. Our study reveals a unique phase diagram of LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As where the region of NFL is moved to the boundary of the superconducting phase, implying that they are probably governed by different mechanisms.