June 2010

Journal

Spin fluctuations and superconductivity in a 3D tight-binding model for BaFe2As2

By:
Graser, Siegfried; Kemper, Alexander F; Maier, Thomas A; Cheng, Hai-Ping ; Hirschfeld, Peter; Scalapino, D.
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Page Number:
214503
Volume:
81
Issue Number:
21
Publication Date:
June 2010
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.214503

Abstract

Despite the wealth of experimental data on the Fe-pnictide compounds of the KFe2As2 type, K=Ba, Ca, or Sr, the main theoretical work based on multiorbital tight-binding models has been restricted so far to the study of the related 1111 compounds. This can be ascribed to the more three-dimensional electronic structure found by ab initio calculations for the 122 materials, making this system less amenable to model development. In addition, the more complicated Brillouin zone 􏰉BZ􏰈 of the body-centered tetragonal symmetry does not allow a straightforward unfolding of the electronic band structure into an effective 1Fe/unit cell BZ. Here we present an effective five-orbital tight-binding fit of the full density functional theory band structure for BaFe2As2 including the kz dispersions. We compare the five-orbital spin fluctuation model to one previously studied for LaOFeAs and calculate the random-phase approximation enhanced susceptibility. Using the fluctuation ex- change approximation to determine the leading pairing instability, we then examine the differences between a strictly two-dimensional model calculation over a single kz cut of the BZ and a completely three-dimensional approach. We find pairing states quite similar to the 1111 materials, with generic quasi-isotropic pairing on the hole sheets and nodal states on the electron sheets at kz=0, which however are gapped as the system is hole doped. On the other hand, a substantial kz dependence of the order parameter remains, with most of the pairing strength deriving from processes near kz=?. These states exhibit a tendency for an enhanced anisotropy on the hole sheets and a reduced anisotropy on the electron sheets near the top of the BZ.


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