Optical Properties of Iron-Selenide Na$_{0.27}$K$_{0.27}$Rb$_{0.27}$Fe$_{1.7}$Se$_2$ Single Crystals

Abstract

With infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry we investigated the in-plane reflectance of the superconducting Na$_{0.27}$K$_{0.27}$Rb$_{0.27}$Fe$_{1.7}$Se$_2$ single crystals with a critical temperature $T_c\approx 34.3$ K over a broad frequency range at temperatures of 4--300 K. The normal-state response of Na$_{0.27}$K$_{0.27}$Rb$_{0.27}$Fe$_{1.7}$Se$_2$ is analyzed by a Drude-Lorentz model with one Drude component. The temperature dependences of the plasma frequency, optical conductivity, scattering rate, and dc resistivity of the Drude component in the normal state are presented. We report a Fano-shaped mode at 1430~cm$^{-1}$ indicating a coupling of the discrete mode presumably related to some electronic transition to a two-magnon continuum as well as a low-frequency broad band assigned to the acoustic magnon branch of the antiferromagnetic superstructure. These features persist in the reflectance in both the normal and superconducting states suggesting a mesoscopic coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in Na$_{0.27}$K$_{0.27}$Rb$_{0.27}$Fe$_{1.7}$Se$_2$.