Superconducting Gap Symmetry of LaFeP(O,F) Observed by Impurity Doping Effect

Abstract

We have investigated Mn, Co and Ni substitution effects on polycrystalline samples of LaFePO0.95F0.05 by resistivity and magnetoresistance measurements. In LaFe1-xMxPO0.95F0.05 (M = Mn, Co and Ni), the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) monotonously decreases with increasing the impurity doping level of x. There is a clear difference of Tc suppression rates among Mn, Co and Ni doping cases, and the decreasing rate of Tc by Mn doping as a magnetic impurity is larger than those by the nonmagnetic doping impurities (Co/Ni). This result indicates that in LaFePO0.95F0.05, Tc is rapidly suppressed by the pair-breaking effect of magnetic impurities, and the pairing symmetry is a full-gapped s-wave. In the nonmagnetic impurity-doped systems, the residual resistivity in the normal state has nearly the same value when Tc becomes zero. The residual resistivity value is almost consistent with the universal value of sheet resistance for two-dimensional superconductors, suggesting that Tc is suppressed by electron localization in Co/Ni-doped LaFePO0.95F0.05.

Keywords

• superconductivity
• LaFePO
• impurity doping
• resistivity
• magnetoresistance