Iron-Based Superconductors

Abstract

Superconductivity is the phenomenon of vanishing an electrical resistivity of materials below a certain low temperature and superconductors are the materials that show this property. Critical temperature is the temperature below which superconducting state occurs. Based on temperature superconductors can be grouped into high-temperature superconductors and low-temperature superconductors. Based on the mechanism, they can be grouped into conventional and unconventional superconductors. Based on magnetism superconducting materials can also be separated into two groups: type-I and type-II superconductors. In this chapter, we will discuss superconductivity, the Meissner effect, type-I and type-II superconductors, convectional and unconvectional superconductors, heavy fermions, cuprates, iron-based superconductors, and high entropy alloy superconductors. High-entropy alloys (heas) are defined as alloys containing at least five elements with concentrations between 5 and 35 atom%. The atoms randomly distribute on simple crystallographic lattices, where the high entropy of mixing can stabilize disordered solid-solution phases with simple structures. The superconducting behavior of heas is distinct from copper oxide superconductors, iron-based superconductors, conventional alloy superconductors, and amorphous superconductors, suggesting that they can be considered as a new class of superconducting materials.