Roles of anisotropic and unequal gaps in the quasiparticle interference of superconducting iron pnictides

We investigate the role of gap characteristics such as anisotropy or inequality of the gaps in the quasiparticle interferences of iron pnictides using a five-orbital tight-binding model. We examine how the difference in the sensitivities exhibited by the sign-changing and -preserving s-wave superconductivity in an annular region around (π,0), which can be used to determine the sign change of the superconducting gap, gets affected when the gaps are unequal on the electron and hole pockets. In addition, we also discuss how robust these differentiating features are on changing the quasiparticle energy or when the gap is anisotropic.