Systematic study on transport properties of FeSe thin films with various degrees of strain

TL;DR

This study systematically investigates how in-plane lattice strain affects the transport and superconducting properties of FeSe thin films, revealing that compressive strain enhances $T_c$ and carrier density, while tensile strain suppresses superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between in-plane strain, structural transitions, and superconductivity in FeSe thin films, highlighting the importance of carrier density for $T_c$ enhancement.

Findings

Compressive strain increases $T_c$ up to 12 K.

Tensile strain suppresses superconductivity.

Carrier density correlates with $T_c$ enhancement.

Abstract

We performed systematic studies on the transport properties of FeSe thin films with controlled degrees of in-plane lattice strain, including both tensile and compressive strains. The superconducting transition temperature, $T_{\mathrm c}$, increases up to 12 K for films with compressive strain while the superconductivity disappears for films with large tensile strains. On the other hand, the structural (nematic) transition temperature, $T_{\mathrm s}$, slightly decreases as the in-plane strain is more compressive. This suggests that the structural transition can be extinguished by a smaller amount of Te substitution for films with more compressive strain, which may lead to higher $T_{\mathrm c}$ in FeSe$_{1-x}$Te$_x$. It was also found that the carrier densities evaluated via transport properties increase as the in-plane strain becomes more compressive. A clear correlation between $T_{\mathrm c}$ and the carrier densities suggests that it is essential to increase carrier densities for the $T_{\mathrm c}$ enhancement of iron chalcogenides.