Developments and Perspectives of Iron-based High-Temperature Superconductors

Since the first report on superconductivity at 26 K in F-doped LaOFeAs at the end of February 2008, the superconducting transition temperature has been quickly raised to about 55 K and many new superconductors have been found, and superconductors with a higher condensing temperature are expected in this system. In this brief Research News article, the author will relate the enormous interest that has been generated towards new superconductor exploration, the refinement and tailoring of the single phase of the available superconductors, the growth of single crystals, and the theoretical and experimental efforts toward targeting the mechanism. Finally, a preliminary comparison between the iron-based system and the cuprates is given, as well as perspectives on these new iron-based superconductors.