Balancing act: Evidence for a strong subdominant d -wave pairing channel in Ba 0.6 K 0.4 Fe 2 As 2
We present detailed measurements of the temperature-dependent Raman spectra of optimally doped Ba 0.6 K 0.4 Fe 2 As 2 and analyze the low-temperature spectra based on local-density-approximation band-structure calculations and the subsequent estimation of effective Raman vertices. Experimentally, a narrow, emergent mode appears in the B 1g (d x 2 -y 2 ) Raman spectra only below T c , well into the superconducting state and at an energy below twice the energy gap on the electron Fermi-surface sheets. The Raman spectra can be reproduced quantitatively with estimates for the magnitude and momentum-space structure of an A 1g (s-wave) pairing gap on different Fermi-surface sheets, as well as the identification of the emergent sharp feature as a Bardasis-Schrieffer exciton. Formed as a Cooper-pair bound state in a subdominant d x 2 -y 2 channel, the binding energy of the exciton relative to the gap edge shows that the coupling strength in the subdominant channel is as strong as 60% of that in the dominant s-wave channel. This result suggests that d x 2 -y 2 may be the dominant pairing symmetry in Fe-based superconductors that lack central hole bands.