NMR evidence for an intimate relationship between antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and extended s-wave superconductivity in mono-crystalline SrFe2(As_{1-x}P_{x})2

TL;DR

This study uses NMR to show that antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are closely linked to the emergence and enhancement of extended s-wave superconductivity in SrFe2(As_{1-x}P_{x})2, with annealing improving superconducting properties.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence connecting AFM spin fluctuations with superconductivity in SrFe2(As_{1-x}P_{x})2, highlighting the role of sample treatment in optimizing Tc.

Findings

Superconducting transition temperature Tc peaks at 33 K near a quantum critical point.

Enhanced AFM spin fluctuations correlate with increased Tc.

Annealed samples show reduced residual density of states, indicating improved superconducting homogeneity.

Abstract

We report systematic 31P-NMR study on iron (Fe)-based superconductors SrFe2(As_{1-x}P_{x})2 (Sr122AsP), in which a superconducting (SC) transition temperature Tc at x=0.35 increases from Tc=26 K up to 33 K by annealing an as-grown mono-crystalline sample. The present NMR study has unraveled that Tc reaches a highest value of 33 K at x=0.35 around a quantum critical point at which antiferromagnetic (AFM) order disappears. When noting that the SC transition disappears at x=0.6 where the AFM spin fluctuations (SFs) are no longer present, we remark that the onset and increase of Tc are apparently associated with the emergence and enhancement of AFM-SFs, respectively. In the SC state, the residual density of state (RDOS) at the Fermi energy EF in the SC state becomes much smaller for the annealed sample than for the as-grown one, suggesting that some inhomogeneity and/or imperfection for the latter increases RDOS as expected for unconventional SC state with nodal gap. These findings in Sr122AsP are consistent with the unconventional s(+-)-wave Cooper pairing state that is mediated by AFM-SFs. We also discuss other key-ingredients besides the AFM-SFs to increase Tc further.