Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8614
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Funding
- Flemish government
- Flemish Science Foundation (FWO)
- COST Action MP1201 from EU
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [11234006, 51102188]
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
- World Premier International Research Center from MEXT
- JSPS [25289233, 25289108]
- Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program) from JSPS
- European Research Council, ERC Grant [246791-COUNTATOMS]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [25289108] Funding Source: KAKEN
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The determination of the pairing symmetry is one of the most crucial issues for the iron-based superconductors, for which various scenarios are discussed controversially. Non-magnetic impurity substitution is one of the most promising approaches to address the issue, because the pair-breaking mechanism from the non-magnetic impurities should be different for various models. Previous substitution experiments demonstrated that the non-magnetic zinc can suppress the superconductivity of various iron-based superconductors. Here we demonstrate the local destruction of superconductivity by non-magnetic zinc impurities in Ba0.5K0.5Fe2As2 by exploring phase-slip phenomena in a mesoscopic structure with 119 x 102 nm(2) cross-section. The impurities suppress superconductivity in a three-dimensional 'Swiss cheese'-like pattern with in-plane and out-of-plane characteristic lengths slightly below similar to 1.34 nm. This causes the superconducting order parameter to vary along abundant narrow channels with effective cross-section of a few square nanometres. The local destruction of superconductivity can be related to Cooper pair breaking by non-magnetic impurities.
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