Anisotropic Upper Critical Field of Iron-Based Superconductors

The upper critical field and its anisotropy are the easiest properties to examine in the research of iron-based superconductors. Based on warped cylindrical Fermi surface models, we investigate the temperature and angle dependence of the upper critical field in detail by employing the quasi-classical formalism of the Werthamer–Helfand–Hohenberg (WHH) theory. Our numerical results reveal the anisotropy of the upper critical field, which may be caused by an anisotropic gap function (e.g., d-wave pairing) or an anisotropic Fermi surface, respectively. Further, according to our analysis, this anisotropy can be modulated by the deformation of the Fermi surface and will be strongly suppressed by the Pauli paramagnetic effect.