Two distinct superconducting states controlled by orientations of local wrinkles in LiFeAs

Abstract

For iron-based superconductors, the phase diagrams under pressure or strain exhibit emergent phenomena between unconventional superconductivity and other electronic orders, varying in different systems. As a stoichiometric superconductor, LiFeAs has no structure phase transitions or entangled electronic states, which manifests an ideal platform to explore the pressure or strain effect on unconventional superconductivity. Here, 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. By statistics, we find that the two types of wrinkles are categorized by their orientations. Our results demonstrate that the local strain effect with different directions can tune the superconducting order parameter of LiFeAs very differently, suggesting that the band shifting induced by directional pressure may play an important role in iron-based superconductivity.