We have performed a high-resolution angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy study on the newly discovered superconductor Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 (Tc = 37 K). We have observed two superconducting gaps with different values: a large gap (∆ ∼ 12 meV) on the two small holelike and electron-like Fermi surface (FS) sheets, and a small gap (∼ 6 meV) on the large hole-like FS. Both gaps, closing simultaneously at the bulk transition temperature (Tc), are nodeless and nearly isotropic around their respective FS sheets. The isotropic pairing interactions are strongly orbital dependent, as the ratio 2∆/kBTc switches from weak to strong coupling on different bands. The same and surprisingly large superconducting gap due to strong pairing on the two small FSs, which are connected by the (π, 0) spin-density-wave vector in the parent compound, strongly suggests that the pairing mechanism originates from the inter-band interactions between these two nested FS sheets.

The interplay between different ordered phases, such as superconducting, charge or spin ordered phases, is of central interest in condensed-matter physics. The very recent discovery of superconductivity with a remarkable Tc = 26 K in Fe-based oxypnictide La(O1−xFx)FeAs (see Kamihara Y. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130 (2008) 3296) is a surprise to the scientific community and has generated tremendous interest. The pure LaOFeAs itself is not superconducting but shows an anomaly near 150 K in both resistivity and dc magnetic susceptibility. Here we provide combined experimental and theoretical evidences showing that a spin-density-wave (SDW) state develops at low temperature, in association with electron Nematic order. The electron-doping by F suppresses the SDW instability and induces the superconductivity. Therefore, the La(O1−xFx)FeAs offers an exciting new system showing competing orders in layered compounds.

Motivated by the premise that superconductivity in iron-based superconductors is unconventional and mediated by spin fluctuations, an intense research effort has been focused on characterizing the spin-excitation spectrum in the magnetically ordered parent phases of the Fe pnictides and chalcogenides. For these undoped materials, it is well established that the spin-excitation spectrum consists of sharp, highly dispersive magnons. The fate of these highenergy magnetic modes upon sizable doping with holes is hitherto unresolved. Here we demonstrate, using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, that optimally hole-doped superconducting Ba 0.6 K 0.4 Fe 2 As 2 retains well-defined, dispersive high-energy modes of magnetic origin. These paramagnon modes are softer than, though as intense as, the magnons of undoped antiferromagnetic BaFe 2 As 2 . The persistence of spin excitations well into the superconducting phase suggests that the spin fluctuations in Fe-pnictide superconductors originate from a distinctly correlated spin state. This connects Fe pnictides to cuprates, for which, in spite of fundamental electronic structure differences, similar paramagnons are present.