Evidence of Strong Correlations and Coherence-Incoherence Crossover in
  the Iron Pnictide Superconductor KFe2As2

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Abstract

Using resistivity, heat-capacity, thermal-expansion, and susceptibility measurements we study the normal-state behavior of KFe2As2. We find that both the Sommerfeld coefficient gamma = 103 mJ mol-1 K-2 and the Pauli susceptibility chi = 4x10-4 are strongly enhanced, which confirm the existence of heavy quasiparticles inferred from previous de Haas-van Alphen and ARPES experiments. We discuss this large enhancement using a Gutzwiller slave-boson mean-field calculation, which reveals the proximity of KFe2As2 to an orbital-selective Mott transition. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and the thermal expansion provide strong experimental evidence for the existence of a coherence-incoherence crossover, similar to what is found in heavy fermion and ruthenate compounds, due to Hund's coupling between orbitals.

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Octet-line node structure of superconducting order parameter in KFe2As2.

Y Ota, A. Chainani, H. Eisaki … (2012)

In iron-pnictide superconductivity, the interband interaction between the hole and electron Fermi surfaces (FSs) is believed to play an important role. However, KFe(2)As(2) has three zone-centered hole FSs and no electron FS but still exhibits superconductivity. Our ultrahigh-resolution laser angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy unveils that KFe(2)As(2) is a nodal s-wave superconductor with highly unusual FS-selective multi-gap structure: a nodeless gap on the inner FS, an unconventional gap with "octet-line nodes" on the middle FS, and an almost-zero gap on the outer FS. This gap structure may arise from the frustration between competing pairing interactions on the hole FSs causing the eightfold sign reversal. Our results suggest that the A(1g) superconducting symmetry is universal in iron-pnictides, in spite of the variety of gap functions.