Two distinct superconducting states controlled by orientation of local wrinkles in LiFeAs
cond-mat.supr-con
/ Authors
Lu Cao, Wenyao Liu, Geng Li, Guangyang Dai, Qi Zheng, Kun Jiang, Shiyu Zhu, Li Huang, Lingyuan Kong, Fazhi Yang
and 7 more authors
Xiancheng Wang, Wu Zhou, Xiao Lin, Jiangping Hu, Changqing Jin, Hong Ding, Hong-Jun Gao
/ Abstract
We observe two types of superconducting states controlled by orientations of local wrinkles on the surface of LiFeAs. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we find type-I wrinkles enlarge the superconducting gaps and enhance the transition temperature, whereas type-II wrinkles significantly suppress the superconducting gaps. The vortices on wrinkles show a C2 symmetry, indicating the strain effects on the wrinkles. A discontinuous switch of superconductivity occurs at the border between two different wrinkles. Our results demonstrate that the local strain effect could affect superconducting order parameter of LiFeAs with a possible Lifshitz transition, by alternating crystal structure in different directions.