Anisotropic impurity states, quasiparticle scattering and nematic transport in underdoped Ca(Fe_1-xCo_x)₂As₂

Iron-based high-temperature superconductivity develops when the 'parent' antiferromagnetic/orthorhombic phase is suppressed, typically by introduction of dopant atoms(1). But their impact on atomic-scale electronic structure, although in theory rather complex(2-13), is unknown experimentally. What is known is that a strong transport anisotropy(14-25) with its resistivity maximum along the crystal b axis(14-25), develops with increasing concentration of dopant atoms(14,20-25); this 'nematicity' vanishes when the parent phase disappears near the maximum superconducting T-c. The interplay between the electronic structure surrounding each dopant atom, quasiparticle scattering therefrom and the transport nematicity has therefore become a pivotal focus(7,8,12,22,23) of research into these materials. Here, by directly visualizing the atomic-scale electronic structure, we show that substituting Co for Fe atoms in underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)(2)As-2 generates a dense population of identical anisotropic impurity states. Each is similar to 8 Fe-Fe unit cells in length, and all are distributed randomly but aligned with the antiferromagnetic a axis. By imaging their surrounding interference patterns, we further demonstrate that these impurity states scatter quasiparticles in a highly anisotropic manner, with the maximum scattering rate concentrated along the b axis. These data provide direct support for the recent proposals(7,8,12,22,23) that it is primarily anisotropic scattering by dopant-induced impurity states that generates the transport nematicity; they also yield simple explanations for the enhancement of the nematicity proportional to the dopant density(14,20-25) and for the occurrence of the highest resistivity along the b axis(14-25).