Superconductivity and its mechanism in an ab initio model for electron-doped LaFeAsO

Abstract

Two families of high temperature superconductors whose critical temperatures are higher than 50K are known. One is the copper oxides and the other is the iron-based superconductors. Comparisons of mechanisms between these two in terms of common ground as well as distinctions will greatly help in searching for higher Tc superconductors. However, studies on mechanisms for the iron family based on first principles calculations are few. Here we first show that the superconductivity emerges in the state-of-the-art numerical calculations for an ab initio multi-orbital model of an electron-doped iron-based superconductor LaFeAsO, in accordance with experimental observations. Then the mechanism of the superconductivity is identified as enhanced uniform density fluctuations by one-to-one correspondence with the instability toward inhomogeneity driven by first-order antiferromagnetic and nematic transitions. Despite many differences, certain common features with the copper oxides are also figured out in terms of the underlying orbital selective Mottness found in the iron family.