Anisotropy induced vortex lattice rearrangement in CaKFe$_4$As$_4$

Abstract

The magnetic penetration depth anisotropy $γ_λ=λ_{c}/λ_{ab}$ ($λ_{ab}$ and $λ_{c}$ are the in-plane and the out-of-plane components of the magnetic penetration depth) in a CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ single crystal sample (the critical temperature $T_{\rm c}\simeq 35$ K) was studied by means of muon-spin rotation ($μ$SR). $γ_λ$ is almost temperature independent for $T\lesssim 20$ K ($γ_λ\simeq 1.9$) and it reaches $\simeq 3.0$ by approaching $T_{\rm c}$. The change of $γ_λ$ induces the corresponding rearrangement of the flux line lattice (FLL), which is clearly detected via enhanced distortions of the FLL $μ$SR response. Comparison of $γ_λ$ with the anisotropy of the upper critical field ($γ_{H_{\rm c2}}$) studied in Phys. Rev B {\bf 94}, 064501 (2016), reveals that $γ_λ$ is systematically higher than $γ_{H_{\rm c2}}$ at low-temperatures and approaches $γ_{H_{\rm c2}}$ for $T \rightarrow T_{\rm c}$. The anisotropic properties of $λ$ are explained by the multi-gap nature of superconductivity in CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ and are caused by anisotropic contributions of various bands to the in-plane and the out-of-plane components of the superfluid density.

6 pages, 4 figures