Characteristics of Iron Chalcogenide Superconductors

Hideo Hosono, a Japanese material scientist, and his group in early 2006 synthesised LaOFeP, a completely new superconductor based on iron with a transition temperature (Tc) 4K. This compound did not give much excitement because of the larger TC values found in cuprates. But the same group in 2008, drew great interests when Tc was raised to 26K in LaFeAsO1-xFx by replacing phosphorous with arsenic and some of oxygen with flourine. Since then extensive research work has been going on in these materials, with Tc reaching as high as 56K, Such an enhancement of Tc in iron based superconductors (FeSC) rapidly captivated attention since LaFeAsO1-xFx could be the next candidate to beat the world highest Tc record of Hg-based cuprates with Tc of 133K.Among them iron chalcogenide is the simple class of iron based superconductor showing higher upper critical field and non-toxic nature. Inshort, The ultimate goal of world-wide investigations on various properties of superconductors is to understand the phenomenon of superconductivity that will help to design superconductors at room temperature.