Effect of Electron Irradiation on Superconductivity in Single Crystals of Ba(Fe_{1−x}Ru_{x})_{2}As_{2} (x=0.24)

Abstract

A single crystal of isovalently substituted Ba(Fe_{1−x}Ru_{x})_{2}As_{2} (x=0.24) is sequentially irradiated with 2.5 MeV electrons up to a maximum dose of 2.1×10^{19} e^{−}/cm^{2}. The electrical resistivity is measured in situ at T=22 K during the irradiation and ex situ as a function of temperature between subsequent irradiation runs. Upon irradiation, the superconducting transition temperature T_{c} decreases and the residual resistivity ρ_{0} increases. We find that electron irradiation leads to the fastest suppression of T_{c} compared to other types of artificially introduced disorder, probably due to the strong short-range potential of the pointlike irradiation defects. A more detailed analysis within a multiband scenario with variable scattering potential strength shows that the observed T_{c} versus ρ_{0} is fully compatible with s_{±} pairing, in contrast to earlier claims that this model leads to a too rapid suppression of T_{c} with scattering.