Inter-Orbital Effects in the Impure Pnictide Superconductors

Abstract

We study the local properties of the iron oxypnictides by means of the real space Bogolubov-de Gennes equations. Starting with the realistic energy spectrum and assuming small amount of impurities we calculate the energy dependence of the local density of states and spatial distribution of the local values of the superconducting energy gap. We pay particular attention to the role of the inter-orbital scattering of pairs and the effect of impurity scattering on the superconducting state. The effect of inter-orbital impurities depends on the relative signs of the order parameters related to two orbitals in question. For opposite signs impurities produce bound states inside the gap, while for the same sign of the order parameters they hardly affect the superconductor. The results obtained for impure systems have been shown as maps of the order parameters and local density of states. They well compare with the existing scanning tunnelling microscopy spectra of the iron pnictides.