The phonon mechanism explanation of the superconductivity dichotomy between FeSe and FeS monolayers on STO and other substrates

TL;DR

This paper explains the high superconducting critical temperature in FeSe monolayers on STO by phonon interactions, contrasting it with FeS, and shows how substrate phonon coupling influences Tc.

Contribution

It develops a substrate interfacial phonon model to explain the superconductivity dichotomy between FeSe and FeS monolayers on STO and other ionic substrates.

Findings

FeSe on STO has Tc above 65K due to strong electron-phonon coupling.

FeS on STO has Tc below 5K because of weaker coupling and smaller effective mass.

Substrate phonon modes significantly influence the superconducting properties of monolayer FeSe and FeS.

Abstract

It was observed recently (K. Shigekawa et al, PNAS 116, 2470 (2019)) that while monolayer iron chalcigenide FeSe on SrTiO3 (STO) substrate has a very high critical temperature, its chemical and structural "twin" material FeS=STO has a very low Tc if any. To explain this the substrate interfacial phonon model of superconductivity in iron chalcogenides is further developed. The main glue is the oxygen ion (60mev) vibrations longitudinal optical (LO) mode. The mode propagates mainly in the TiO2 layer adjacent to the monolayer (and genrally present also in similar highly polarized ionic crystals like BaTiO3; rutile, anatase). It has stronger electron - phonon coupling to electron gas in FeSe than a well known (100mev) harder LO mode. It is shown that while (taking into account screened Coulomb repulsion efects) the critical temperature of FeSe on STO and TiO2 is above 65K, it becomes less than 5K for FeS due to two factors suppressing the electron - phonon coupling. The efective mass in the later is twice smaller and in addition the distance between the electron gas in FeSe to the vibrating substrate oxygen atoms is 15% smaller than in FeS reducinng the central peak in electron-phonon interaction. The theory is extended to other ionic insulating substrates.