Impurity scattering effects on the superconducting properties and the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition in FeSe

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the doping dependence of the phase diagram of FeSe-based superconductors is still required due to the lack of a clean and systematic means of doping control. Here, we report on the magneto-optical imaging, thermodynamic and transport properties, as well as in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies of impurity scattering in stoichiometric FeSe single crystals. Co doping at the Fe site is found to decrease the superconducting transition temperature $({T}_{c})$. The upper critical field and specific heat all indicate a possible multiband superconductivity with strong coupling in the Co-doped system. A remarkable feature in FeSe is that its temperature dependent resistivity exhibits a wide hump at high temperatures, a signature of a crossover from a semiconductinglike behavior to metallic behavior. A structural tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition $({T}_{s})$ (a consequence of the electronic nematicity) is suppressed by either physical or chemical pressures. Due to the reconstruction of the Fermi surface at ${T}_{s}$, specific heat anomalies at ${T}_{s}$ present $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{C}_{p}/{T}_{s}\ensuremath{\approx}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{n}$, being ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{n}$ the Sommerfield coefficient at low temperature. This reflect an additional electronic instability in the ${\mathrm{FeSe}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{S}}_{x}$ system. ARPES data between 180 and 282 K indicates the existence of a chemical potential shift with increasing thermal excitations, resulting in a change of the Fermi-surface topology and exhibiting a semimetal behavior. We found that the temperature-induced Lifshitz transition is much higher than the temperature for the nematic order.