Iron based superconductors: A brief overview

Abstract

Fe-based superconductors were discovered in 2008. This discovery with T$_c$ values up to 56 K, generated a new belief in the field of superconductivity. Till its discovery, high temperature superconductivity in cuprates, created a prejudice that Cu-oxides are essential building blocks for a high temperature superconducting material. These Fe based superconductors do not contain Cu-O planes (some of the materials are even O free). It will be argued in this review, that these iron pnictide and chalcogenide (FePn/Ch) superconductors have Fe electrons at the Fermi surface together with an unusual Fermiology that can change rapidly with doping. This may lead to very different normal and superconducting state properties compared to those in standard electron-phonon coupled {\it conventional} superconductors. There are a large number of evidences showing that superconductivity, magnetism, orbital fluctuations are intimately related and coexist in these materials although the mechanism of superconductivity in these compounds is still unknown. The electronic specific heat, $\frac{2\Delta}{k_B T_c}$ ratio, phase diagrams, isotope effect, crystal structures and there correlation to T$_c$ from various available experimental data are main inputs of this review to show the above.