Superconducting materials

Abstract

The discovery of superconductivity in 1911 was a great milestone in condensed matter physics. This discovery has resulted in an enormous amount of research activity. Collaboration among chemists and physicists, as well as experimentalists and theoreticians has given rise to very rich physics with significant potential applications ranging from electric power transmission to quantum information. Several superconducting materials have been synthesized.Crucial progress was made in 1987 with the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in copper-based compounds (cuprates) which have revealed new fascinating properties. Innovative theoretical tools have been developed to understand the striking features of cuprates which have remained for three decades the 'blue-eyed boy' for researchers in superconductor physics.The history of superconducting materials has been notably marked by the discovery of other compounds, particularly organic superconductors which despite their low critical temperature continue to attract great interest regarding their exotic properties. Last but not least, the recent observation of superconductivity in iron-based materials (pnictides) has renewed hope in reaching room temperature superconductivity.However, despite intense worldwide studies, several features related to this phenomenon remain unveiled. One of the fundamental key questions is the mechanism by which superconductivity takes place. Superconductors continue to hide their 'secret garden'.The new trends in the physics of superconductivity have been one of the two basic topics of the International Conference on Conducting Materials (ICoCoM2010) held in Sousse,Tunisia on 3–7 November 2010 and organized by the Tunisian Physical Society. The conference was a nice opportunity to bring together participants from multidisciplinary domains in the physics of superconductivity.This special section contains papers submitted by participants who gave an oral contribution at ICoCoM2010 and by invited authors selected by the editor. We are grateful to IUPAP, ICTP and the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, United States Air Force Laboratory.We would like to acknowledge the authors for their careful work, and finally we thank Dr L Smith the publisher of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter for her patience and help.Superconducting materials contentsRaman spectrum in the pseudogap phaseof the underdoped cuprates: effect of phase coherence and the signature of the KT-type superconducting transition Tao Li and Haijun LiaoPressure effects on Dirac fermions inα-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 Takahiro Himura, Takao Morinari and Takami TohyamaEffect of Zn doping in hole-type 1111phase (Pr, Sr)FeAsO Xiao Lin, Chenyi Shen, Chen Lv, Jianjian Miao, Hao Tan, Guanghan Caoand Zhu-An XuSuperconductivity and ferromagnetism inEuFe2(As1 - xPx)2* Guanghan Cao, Shenggao Xu, Zhi Ren, Shuai Jiang, Chunmu Feng and Zhu'an XuOInhomogeneous superconductivity inorganic conductors: the role of disorder and magnetic field S Haddad, S Charfi-Kaddour and J-P Pouget