Iron-based superconductors: Magnetism, superconductivity, and electronic structure

Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) reveals the features of the electronic structure of quasi-two-dimensional crystals which are crucial for spin and charge ordering and determine the mechanisms of electron-electron interactions, including superconducting pairing. The newly discovered iron-based superconductors (FeSC) promise interesting physics stemming, on one hand, from a coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism and, on the other, from a complex multi-band electronic structure. In this review I want to offer a simple introduction to the physics of FeSC, and to argue that all the complexity of FeSC properties is encapsulated in their electronic structure. For many compounds, this structure has been determined on the basis of numerous ARPES experiments and agrees reasonably well with the results of band structure calculations. Nevertheless, the existing small differences may help to understand the mechanisms of magnetic ordering and superconducting pairing in FeSC. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4752092]