Evidence of hot and cold spots on the Fermi surface of LiFeAs

TL;DR

This study uses ARPES to reveal momentum-dependent hot and cold spots on the Fermi surface of LiFeAs, showing how different orbital characters influence scattering rates and Fermi-liquid behavior, advancing understanding of superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed momentum-resolved analysis of scattering rates and Fermi-liquid behavior in LiFeAs, linking orbital character to hot and cold spots, and compares experimental results with theoretical calculations.

Findings

Hot spots with marginal Fermi liquid behavior on Fe 3d_{xy/yz} orbitals.

Cold spots with Fermi-liquid behavior on Fe 3d_{xz,yz} orbitals.

Strong momentum dependence of scattering rates and deviation from non-correlated systems.

Abstract

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is used to study the energy and momentum dependence of the inelastic scattering rates and the mass renormalization of charge carriers in LiFeAs at several high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. A strong and linear-in-energy scattering rate is observed for sections of the Fermi surface having predominantly Fe $3d_{xy/yz}$ orbital character on the inner hole and on electron pockets. We assign them to hot spots with marginal Fermi liquid character inducing high antiferromagnetic and pairing susceptibilities. The outer hole pocket, with Fe $3d_{xy}$ orbital character, has a reduced but still linear in energy scattering rate. Finally, we assign sections on the middle hole pockets with Fe $3d_{xz,yz}$ orbital character and on the electron pockets with Fe $3d_{xy}$ orbital character to cold spots because there we observe a quadratic-in-energy scattering rate with Fermi-liquid behavior. These cold spots prevail the transport properties. Our results indicate a strong $\it{momentum}$ dependence of the scattering rates. We also have indications that the scattering rates in correlated systems are fundamentally different from those in non-correlated materials because in the former the Pauli principle is not operative. We compare our results for the scattering rates with combined density functional plus dynamical mean-field theory calculations. The work provides a generic microscopic understanding of macroscopic properties of multiorbital unconventional superconductors.