The in-plane complex optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45 have been determined above and below the critical temperature Tc = 14 K. At room temperature the conductivity is described by a weakly-interacting Fermi liquid; however, below 100 K the scattering rate develops a frequency dependence in the terahertz region, signaling the increasingly correlated nature of this material. We estimate the dc conductivity just above Tc to be sigma_dc ~ 3500 Ohm-1cm-1 and the superfluid density rho_s0 ~ 9 x 10^6 cm-2, which places this material close to the scaling line rho_s0/8 ~ 8.1 sigma_dc Tc for a BCS dirty-limit superconductor. Below Tc the optical conductivity reveals two gap features at Delta_1,2 ~ 2.5 and ~ 5.1 meV.
Superconductivity in the iron pnictides and chalcogenides arises at the border of antiferromagnetism, which raises the question of the role of quantum criticality. In this topical review, we describe the theoretical work that led to the prediction for a magnetic quantum critical point arising out of a competition between electronic localization and itinerancy, and the proposal for accessing it by using isoelectronic P substitution for As in the undoped iron pnictides. We go on to compile the emerging experimental evidence in support of the existence of such a quantum critical point in isoelect…
Motivated by the newly-discovered intercalated iron chalcogenide superconductors, we construct a single orbital tight-binding model for topological insulators on the square lattice with a perfect vacancy superstructure. We find that such lattice structure naturally accommodates a non-vanishing geometry phase associated with the next-nearest-neighbor spin-orbit interaction. By calculating the bulk band structures and the finite stripe edge states, we show that the topological insulator phases can be tuned at certain electron fillings in a wide range of the model parameters. The possible implica…
We report an unusual persistence of superconductivity against high magnetic fields in the iron chalcogenide film FeTe:O$_{x}$ below ~ 2.5 K. Instead of saturating like a mean-field behavior with a single order parameter, the measured low-temperature upper critical field increases progressively, suggesting a large supply of superconducting states accessible via magnetic field or low-energy thermal fluctuations. We demonstrate that superconducting states of finite momenta can be realized within the conventional theory, despite its questionable applicability. Our findings reveal a fundamental cha…
The indirect RKKY interaction in iron pnictide and chalcogenide metals is calculated for a simplified four bands Fermi surface (FS) model. We investigate the specific multi-band features and show that distinct length scales of the RKKY oscillations appear. For the regular lattice of the local moments, the generalized RKKY interaction is defined in momentum space. We consider its momentum dependence in paramagnetic and spin density wave (SDW) phases, discuss its implications for the possible type of magnetic order and compare it to the results obtained from more realistic tight-binding type Fer…
We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of iron-chalcogenide superconductor Fe1.03Te0.7Se0.3 (Tc = 13 K) to investigate the electronic structure relevant to superconductivity. We observed a hole- and an electron-like Fermi surfaces at the Brillouin zone center and corner, respectively, which are nearly nested by the Q~(pi, pi) wave vector. We do not find evidence for the nesting instability with Q~(pi+delta, 0) reminiscent of the antiferromagnetic order in the parent compound Fe1+yTe. We have observed an isotropic superconducting gap along the hole-like Ferm…
The superconducting order parameter in the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe$_{0.55}$Se$_{0.45}$ ($T_\textrm{c}$ = 14.2 K) is investigated by point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy. The energy gap magnitude (3.8 meV at 1.70 K) and temperature dependence as extracted from the Andreev conductance spectra reveal strong-coupling superconductivity and is consistent with $s$-wave order parameter symmetry. No clear evidence for multiple order parameters or interference from multiple bands is observed. A conductance enhancement persists above $T_\textrm{c}$ to $\sim 18-20$ K and possible or…
The level of electronic correlation has been one of the key questions in understanding the nature of superconductivity. Among the iron-based superconductors, the iron chalcogenide family exhibits the strongest electron correlations. To gauge the correlation strength, we performed systematic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study on the iron chalcogenide series Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$ (0$<$x$<$0.59), a model system with the simplest structure. Our measurement reveals an incoherent to coherent crossover in the electronic structure as the selenium ratio increases and the system evolve…
We report Fe K beta x-ray emission spectroscopy study of local magnetic moments in various iron based superconductors in their paramagnetic phases. Local magnetic moments are found in all samples studied: PrFeAsO, Ba(Fe,Co)2As2, LiFeAs, Fe1+x(Te,Se), and A2Fe4Se5 (A=K, Rb, and Cs). The moment size varies significantly across different families. Specifically, all iron pnictides samples have local moments of about 1 $μ_B$/Fe, while FeTe and K2Fe4Se5 families have much larger local moments of ~2$μ_B$/Fe, ~3.3$μ_B$/Fe, respectively. In addition, we find that neither carrier doping nor temperature …
The complex optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45 with Tc=14K have been examined over a wide frequency range for light polarized in the Fe-Te(Se) planes above and below Tc. At room temperature the optical response may be described by a weakly-interacting Fermi liquid; however, just above Tc this picture breaks down and the scattering rate takes on a linear frequency dependence. Below Tc there is evidence for two gap features in the optical conductivity at Delta_1 ~ 2.5 meV and Delta_2 ~ 5.1 meV. Less than 20% of the free carriers collapse into the condensate…
The present article reviews recent experimental investigations of spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors and their parent compounds by means of inelastic neutron scattering. It mainly focuses on the most contemporary developments in this field, pertaining to the observations of magnetic resonant modes in new superconductors, spin anisotropy of low-energy magnetic fluctuations that has now been observed in a wide range of chemical compositions and doping levels, as well as their momentum-space anisotropy incurred by the spin-nematic order. The implications of these new findings for our und…
We discovered a novel annealing method for Fe-chalcogenide superconductors. It was found that sulfur annealing deintercalated excess Fe via formation of FeS2. Due to its specifics, sulfur annealing is applicable when preparing Fe-chalcogenide-based wires or cables.
Iron-chalcogenide compounds with FeSe(Te, S) layers did not attract much attention until the discovery of high-Tc superconductivity (SC) in the iron-pnictide compounds at the begining of 2008. Compared with FeAs-based superconductors, iron-chalcogenide superconductors have aroused enormous enthusiasm to study the relationship between SC and magnetisms with several distinct features, such as different antiferromagnetic ground states with relatively large moments in the parents, indicating possibly different superconducting mechanisms, the existence of the excess Fe atoms or Fe vacancies in the …
By applying density functional theory calculations to iron chalcogenides, we find that magnetic order in Fe$_{1+y}$Te and magnetic instability at $(π,π)$ in K$_y$Fe$_2$Se$_2$ are controlled by interstitial and interlayer cations, respectively. While in Fe$_{1+y}$Te, magnetic phase transitions occur among collinear, exotic bicollinear and plaquette-ordered antiferronmagnetic states when the height of interstitial irons measured from iron plane or the concentration of interstitial irons is varied, the magnetic instability at $(π,π)$ which is believed to be responsible for the Cooper pairing in i…
We perform a two-loop renormalization group (RG) analysis of a 2D effective multiband model, which is relevant for describing the low-energy properties of some iron-chalcogenide superconducting materials. Crucial ingredients in this analysis are the calculation of higher-order contributions in the RG scheme that go beyond the widely-used parquet approximation and the consequent inclusion of nontrivial self-energy effects of the model that yield an anisotropic renormalization of the quasiparticle weight in the system. The motivation of our work is the experimental discovery by Sprau et al. (201…
The nature of metallicity and the level of electronic correlations in the antiferromagnetically ordered parent compounds are two important open issues for the iron-based superconductivity. We perform a temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Fe1.02Te, the parent compound for iron chalcogenide superconductors. Deep in the antiferromagnetic state, the spectra exhibit a "peak-dip-hump" line shape associated with two clearly separate branches of dispersion, characteristics of polarons seen in manganites and lightly-doped cuprates. As temperature increases towards t…
Superconductivity in the iron pnictides and chalcogenides is closely connected to a bad-metal normal state and a nearby antiferromagnetic order. Therefore, considerable attention has been focused on the role of electron correlations and spin dynamics. In this article, we summarize some key experiments that quite directly imply strong electron correlations in these materials, and discuss aspects of the recent theoretical studies on these issues. In particular, we outline a $w$-expansion, which treats the correlation effects using the Mott transition as the reference point. For the parent system…
Deviations of low-energy electronic structure of iron-based superconductors from density functional theory predictions have been parametrized in terms of band- and orbital-dependent mass renormalizations and energy shifts. The former have typically been described in terms of a local self-energy within the framework of dynamical mean field theory, while the latter appears to require non-local effects due to interband scattering. By calculating the renormalized bandstructure in both random phase approximation (RPA) and the two-particle self-consistent approximation (TPSC), we show that correlati…
We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the low energy spin excitations in moderately doped non-superconducting Fe$_{1.01}$Te$_{0.72}$Se$_{0.28}$. The spin excitations in this system contain components near (0.5,0,0) and (0.5,0.5,0) in a-b plane reciprocal lattice units using tetragonal unit cell notation (a=b=3.772 Åand c=6.061 Å). At low energies the scattering is centered around (0.5,0,0). With increasing energy, the spectral weight of low energy spin excitations centered around (0.5,0,0) abruptly shifts around 3 meV to the incommensurate spin excitations centered around (0.5,0.5,0). H…
We use inelastic neutron scattering to show that the spin waves in the iron chalcogenide Fe$_{1.05}$Te display novel dispersion clearly different from those in the related iron pnictide systems. By fitting the spin waves to a Heisenberg Hamiltonian, we extract magnetic exchange couplings that are dramatically different from both predictions by density functional calculations and measurements on the iron pnictide CaFe$_2$As$_2$. While the nearest-neighbor exchange couplings in CaFe$_2$As$_2$ and Fe$_{1.05}$Te are quite different, their next-nearest-neighbor exchange couplings are similar. These…
We demonstrate that the inclusion of van der Waals dispersive interaction sensibly improves the prediction of lattice constants by density functional theory in iron-chalcogenides (FeCh) superconductor compounds, namely FeSe and FeTe. We show how generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange correlation potential overestimates the out-of-plane lattice constants in both compounds when compared with experiments. In addition, GGA predicts a too weak bonding between the neutral FeCh layers, with a sensible underestimation of the bulk modulus. van der Waals corrected simulations complete…
Impurity scattering is found to lead to quasi-one dimensional nanoscale modulation of the local density of states in the iron pnictides and chalcogenides. This `quasiparticle interference' feature is remarkably similar across a wide variety of pnictide and chalcogenide phases, suggesting a common origin. We show that a unified understanding of the experiments can be obtained by simply invoking a four-fold symmetry breaking $d_{xz}-d_{yz}$ orbital splitting, of a magnitude already suggested by the experiments. This can explain the one-dimensional characteristics in the local density of states o…
We perform realistic first-principles calculations of iron chalcogenides and ruthenate based materials to identify experimental signatures of Hund's coupling induced correlations in these systems. We find that FeTe and K$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ display unusual orbital dependent fractional powerlaw behavior in their quasiparticle self energy and optical conductivity, a phenomena first identified in SrRuO$_3$. Strong incoherence in the paramagnetic state of these materials results in electronic states hidden to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy which reemerge at low temperatures. We identify…
The iron pnictide and chalcogenide compounds are a subject of intensive investigations due to their high temperature superconductivity.\cite{a-LaFeAsO} They all share the same structure, but there is significant variation in their physical properties, such as magnetic ordered moments, effective masses, superconducting gaps and T$_c$. Many theoretical techniques have been applied to individual compounds but no consistent description of the trends is available \cite{np-review}. We carry out a comparative theoretical study of a large number of iron-based compounds in both their magnetic and param…
The high upper critical field characteristic of the recently discovered iron-based superconducting chalcogenides opens the possibility of developing a new type of non-oxide high-field superconducting wires. In this work, we utilize a buffered metal template on which we grow a textured FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$ layer, an approach developed originally for high temperature superconducting coated conductors. These tapes carry high critical current densities (>1$\times10^{4}$A/cm$^{2}$) at about 4.2K under magnetic field as high as 25 T, which are nearly isotropic to the field direction. This demonstr…
We report investigation on Fe1+yTexSe1-x single crystals by using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Both nonsuperconducting samples with excess iron and superconducting samples demonstrate nanoscale phase separation and chemical inhomogeneity of Te/Se content, which we attribute to a miscibility gap. The line scan EELS technique indicates ~20% or less fluctuation of Te concentration from the nominal compositions.
We employ a five-orbital tight-binding model to develop the mean field solution for various possible spin density wave states in the iron-chalcogenides. The quasiparticle interference (QPI) technique is applied to detect signatures of these states due to scatterings arising from non-magnetic impurities. Apart from the experimentally observed double striped structure with ordering vector $(π/2,π/2)$, the QPI method is investigated for the extended-stripe as well as the orthogonal double stripe phase. We discuss QPI as a possible tool to detect and classify various magnetic structures with diffe…
The structural and electronic properties of hypothetical Ru$_x$Fe$_{1-x}$Se and Ru$_x$Fe$_{1-x}$Te systems have been investigated from first principles within the density functional theory (DFT). Reasonable values of lattice parameters and chalcogen atomic positions in the tetragonal unit cell of iron chalcogenides have been obtained with the use of norm-conserving pseudopotentials. The well known discrepancies between experimental data and DFT-calculated results for structural parameters of iron chalcogenides are related to the semicore atomic states which were frozen in the used here approac…
This review discusses and compares electronic spectra of new iron-based high-temperature superconductors (HTSC), as well as a number of chemically similar compounds. Particular attention is payed to iron chalcogenide K_{1-x}Fe_{2-y}Se_2, which is isostructural to BaFe_2As_2 (122) pnictide. It is shown, that Fermi surfaces of K_{1-x}Fe_{2-y}Se_2 are essentially different from those for pnictides. Using LDA+DMFT and LDA'+DMFT calculations we show, that electronic correlations in K_{1-x}Fe_{2-y}Se_2 influence the electronic structure much more significantly, than in the most studied 122 system. W…
First principles FLAPW-GGA method was used for the comparative study of the structural and electronic properties of three related tetragonal ThCr2Si2-type phases KFe2Ch2, where Ch are S, Se, and Te. The main trends in electronic bands, densities of states and Fermi surfaces for AFe2Ch2 are analyzed in relation to their structural parameters. We found that at the anion replacements (S<->Se<->Te) any critical changes in electronic structure of KFe2Ch2 phases are absent. On the other hand, our analysis of structural and electronic parameters for hypothetical KFe2Te2 allows to assume that this sys…
The ground state of K$_{0.8+x}$Fe$_{1.6+y}$Se$_2$ and other iron-based selenide superconductors are doped antiferromagnetic semiconductors. There are well defined iron local moments whose energies are separated from those of conduction electrons by a large band gap in these materials. We propose that the low energy physics of this system is governed by a model Hamiltonian of interacting electrons with on-site ferromagnetic exchange interactions and inter-site superexchange interactions. We have derived the effective pairing potential of electrons under the linear spin-wave approximation and sh…
The improvement in the fabrication techniques of iron-based superconductors have made these materials real competitors of high temperature superconductors and MgB$_2$. In particular, iron-chalcogenides have proved to be the most promising for the realization of high current carrying tapes. But their use on a large scale cannot be achieved without the understanding of the current stability mechanisms in these compounds. Indeed, we have recently observed the presence of flux flow instabilities features in Fe(Se,Te) thin films grown on CaF$_2$. Here we present the results of current-voltage chara…
There is increasing recognition that the multiorbital nature of the 3d electrons is important to the proper description of the electronic states in the normal state of the iron-based superconductors. Earlier studies of the pertinent multiorbital Hubbard models identified an orbital-selective Mott phase, which anchors the orbital-selective behavior seen in the overall phase diagram. An important characteristics of the models is that the orbitals are kinetically coupled -- i.e. hybridized -- to each other, which makes the orbital-selective Mott phase especially nontrivial. A U(1) slave-spin meth…
The complex interdigitated phases have greatly frustrated attempts to document the basic features of the superconductivity in the alkali metal intercalated iron chalcogenides. Here, using elastic neutron scattering, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and resistivity measurements, we elucidate the relations of these phases in Rb$_{1-δ}$Fe$_y$Se$_{2-z}$S$_z$. We find: i) the iron content is crucial in stabilizing the stripe antiferromagnetic (AF) phase with rhombic iron vacancy order ($y\approx1.5$), the block AF phase with $\sqrt{5}\times \sqrt{5}$ iron vacancy order ($y\approx1.6$), and the…
The symmetries of superconducting gap functions remain an important question of iron-based superconductivity. Motivated by the recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopic measurements on iron-chalcogenide superconductors, we investigate the influence of pairing symmetries on the topological surface state. If the surface Dirac cone becomes gapped in the superconducting phase, it implies magnetization induced from time-reversal symmetry breaking pairing via spin-orbit coupling. Based on the crystalline symmetry constraints on the Ginzburg-Landau free energy, the gap function symmetries are…
We show that electron correlations lead to a bad metallic state in chalcogenides FeSe and FeTe despite the intermediate value of the Hubbard repulsion $U$ and Hund's rule coupling $J$. The evolution of the quasi particle weight $Z$ as a function of the interaction terms reveals a clear crossover at $U \simeq$ 2.5 eV. In the weak coupling limit $Z$ decreases for all correlated $d$ orbitals as a function of $U$ and beyond the crossover coupling they become weakly dependent on $U$ while strongly depend on $J$. A marked orbital dependence of the $Z$'s emerges even if in general the orbital-selecti…
The 122$^{*}$ series of iron-chalcogenide superconductors, for example K$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$, only possesses electron Fermi pockets. Their distinctive electronic structure challenges the picture built upon iron pnictide superconductors, where both electron and hole Fermi pockets coexist. However, partly due to the intrinsic phase separation in this family of compounds, many aspects of their behavior remain elusive. In particular, the evolution of the 122$^{*}$ series of iron-chalcogenides with chemical substitution still lacks a microscopic and unified interpretation. Using angle-resolved ph…
The latest discovery of a new iron-chalcogenide superconductor A$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$(A=K, Cs, Rb, Tl and etc.) has attracted much attention due to a number of its unique characteristics, such as the possible insulating state of the parent compound, the existence of Fe-vacancy and its ordering, a new form of magnetic structure and its interplay with superconductivity, and the peculiar electronic structures that are distinct from other Fe-based superconductors. In this paper, we present a brief review on the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of this new superconductor, with an empha…
We demonstrate that the differential conductance, $dI/dV$, measured via spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy in the doped iron chalcogenide FeSe$_{0.45}$Te$_{0.55}$, possesses a series of characteristic features that allow one to extract the orbital structure of the superconducting gaps. This yields nearly isotropic superconducting gaps on the two hole-like Fermi surfaces, and a strongly anisotropic gap on the electron-like Fermi surface. Moreover, we show that the pinning of nematic fluctuations by defects can give rise to a dumbbell-like spatial structure of the induced impuri…
Superconductivity develops in metals upon the formation of a coherent macroscopic quantum state of electron pairs. Iron pnictides and chalcogenides are materials that have high superconducting transition temperatures. In this Review, we describe the advances in the field that have led to higher superconducting transition temperatures in iron-based superconductors and the wide range of materials that form them. We summarize both the essential aspects of the normal state and the mechanism for superconductivity. We emphasize the degree of electron-electron correlations and their manifestation in …
We report density functional calculations of electronic structure and magnetic properties of ternary iron chalcogenide TlFe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$, which occurs in the ThCr$_{2}$Si$_{2}$ structure and discuss the results in relation to the iron-based superconductors. The ground state is antiferromagnetic with checkerboard order and Fe moment $\sim$ 1.90 $μ$B. There is strong magnetoelastic coupling similar to the Fe-based superconductors, reflected in a sensitivity of the Se position to magnetism. Tl is monovalent in this compound, providing heavy electron-doping of 0.5 additional carriers per Fe relat…
Pressure plays an essential role in the induction1 and control2,3 of superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. Substitution of a smaller rare-earth ion for the bigger one to simulate the pressure effects has surprisingly raised the superconducting transition temperature Tc to the record high 55 K in these materials4,5. However, Tc always goes down after passing through a maximum at some pressure and the superconductivity eventually tends to disappear at sufficiently high pressures1-3. Here we show that the superconductivity can reemerge with a much higher Tc after its destruction upon c…
The successful fabrication of one monolayer FeSe on SrTiO$_{3}$ represented a real breakthrough in searching for high-T$_{c}$ Fe-based superconductors (Ref. 1). Motivated by this important discovery, we studied the effects of tensile strain on one monolayer and bulk iron-chalcogenide superconductors (FeSe and FeTe), showing that it produces important magnetic and electronic changes in the systems. We found that the magnetic ground state of bulk and monolayer FeSe is the block-checkerboard phase, which turns into the collinear stripe phase under in plane tensile strain. FeTe, in both bulk and m…
The iron chalcogenides FeSe and FeS are superconductors composed of two-dimensional sheets held together by van der Waals interactions, which makes them prime candidates for the intercalation of various guest species. We review the intercalation chemistry of FeSe and FeS superconductors and discuss their synthesis, structure, and physical properties. Before we review the latest work in this area, we provide a brief background on the intercalation chemistry of other inorganic materials that exhibit enhanced superconducting properties upon intercalation, which include the transition metal dichal…
In this review, we present a summary of the results on single crystal growth of two types of iron-chalcogenide superconductors, Fe(1+y)Te(1-x)Se(x) (11), and A(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2) (A= K, Rb, Cs, Tl, Tl/K, Tl/Rb), using Bridgman, zone-melting, vapor self-transport, and flux techniques. The superconducting and magnetic properties (the latter gained mainly from neutron scattering measurements) of these materials are reviewed to demonstrate the connection between magnetism and superconductivity. It will be shown that for the 11 system, while static magnetic order around the reciprocal lattice position …
We report on the first investigation of the quasiparticle local density of states and superconducting gap in the iron chalcogenide superconductor Fe$_{1+δ}$Se$_{1-x}$Te$_{x}$ ($T_{\mathrm{c}} \sim 14$ K). The surface of a cleaved crystal revealed an atomic square lattice, superimposed on the inhomogeneous background, with a lattice constant of $\sim 3.8$ Åwithout any reconstruction. Tunneling spectra measured at 4.2 K exhibit the superconducting gap, which completely disappears at 18 K, with a magnitude of $\sim 2.3$ meV, corresponding to $2Δ/ k_{\mathrm{B}}T_{\mathrm{c}}=3.8$.In stark contras…
Measurements of the local density of states near impurities can be useful for identifying the superconducting gap structure in alkali doped iron chalcogenide superconductors K_xFe_{2-y}Se_2. Here, we study the effects of nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities within a nearest neighbor d-wave and next-nearest neighbor s-wave superconducting state. For both repulsive and attractive nonmagnetic impurities, it is shown that sub-gap bound states exist only for d-wave superconductors with the positions of these bound states depending rather sensitively on the electron doping level. Further, for such di…
Establishing the appropriate theoretical framework for unconventional superconductivity in the iron-based materials requires correct understanding of both the electron correlation strength and the role of Fermi surfaces. This fundamental issue becomes especially relevant with the discovery of the iron chalcogenide (FeCh) superconductors, the only iron-based family in proximity to an insulating phase. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to measure three representative FeCh superconductors, FeTe0.56Se0.44, K0.76Fe1.72Se2, and monolayer FeSe film grown on SrTiO3. We sho…
Thin film growth of iron chalcogenides by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is still a delicate issue in terms of simultaneous control of stoichiometry, texture, substrate/film interface properties, and superconducting properties. The high volatility of the constituents sharply limits optimal deposition temperatures to a narrow window and mainly challenges reproducibility for vacuum based methods. In this work we demonstrate the beneficial introduction of a semiconducting FeSe$_{1\text{--}x}$Te$_x$ seed layer for subsequent homoepitaxial growth of superconducting FeSe$_{1\text{--}x}$Te$_x$ thin fi…
Superconducting condensation energy $U_0^{int}$ has been determined by integrating the electronic entropy in various iron pnictide/chalcogenide superconducting systems. It is found that $U_0^{int}\propto T_c^n$ with $n$ = 3 to 4, which is in sharp contrast to the simple BCS prediction $U_0^{BCS}=1/2N_FΔ_s^2$ with $N_F$ the quasiparticle density of states at the Fermi energy, $Δ_s$ the superconducting gap. A similar correlation holds if we compute the condensation energy through $U_0^{cal}=3γ_n^{eff}Δ_s^2/4π^2k_B^2$ with $γ_n^{eff}$ the effective normal state electronic specific heat coefficien…
This article reviews recent experimental investigations on two binary Fe-chalcogenides: FeSe and Fe$_{1+y}$Te. The main focus is on synthesis, single crystal growth, chemical composition, as well as on the effect of excess iron on structural, magnetic, and transport properties of these materials. The structurally simplest Fe-based superconductor Fe$_{1+x}$Se with a critical temperature $T_c \approx$ 8.5 K undergoes a tetragonal to orthorhombic phase transition at a temperature $T_s \approx$ 87 K. No long-range magnetic order is observed down to the lowest measured temperature in Fe$_{1+x}$Se. …
The discovery of iron pnictides and iron chalcogenides as a new class of unconventional superconductors in 2008 has generated an enourmous amount of experimental and theoretical work that identifies these materials as correlated metals with multiorbital physics, where magnetism, nematicity and superconductivity are competing phases that appear as a function of pressure and doping. A microscopic understanding of the appearance of these phases is crucial in order to determine the nature of superconductivity in these systems. Here we review our recent theoretical efforts to describe and understan…
The interplay between superconductivity, magnetism and crystal structure in iron-based superconductors is a topic of great interest amongst the condensed matter physics community as it is thought to be the key to understanding the mechanisms responsible for high temperature superconductivity. Alkali metal doped iron chalcogenide superconductors exhibit several unique characteristics which are not found in other iron-based superconducting materials such as antiferromagnetic ordering at room temperature, the presence of ordered iron vacancies and high resistivity normal state properties. Detaile…
Unconventional superconductivity in iron pnictides and chalcogenides has been suggested to be controlled by the interplay of low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and the particular topology of the Fermi surface in these materials. Based on this premise, one would also expect the large class of isostructural and isoelectronic iron germanide compounds to be good superconductors. As a matter of fact, they, however, superconduct at very low temperatures or not at all. In this work we establish that superconductivity in iron germanides is suppressed by strong ferromagnetic tendencies, whi…
Although nanoscale deformation, such as nanostrain in iron chalcogenide (FeSexTe1-x, FST) thin films, has attracted attention owing to the enhancement of general superconducting properties, including critical current density (Jc) and critical transition temperature, its formation has proven to be an extremely challenging and complex process thus far. Herein, we successfully fabricated an epitaxial FST thin film with uniformly distributed nanostrain by injection of a trace amount of CeO2 inside FST matrix using sequential pulsed laser deposition. Using transmission electron microscopy and geome…
The response of the worldwide scientific community to the discovery in 2008 of superconductivity at Tc = 26 K in the Fe-based compound LaFeAsO_{1-x}F_x has been very enthusiastic. In short order, other Fe-based superconductors with the same or related crystal structures were discovered with Tc up to 56 K. Many experiments were carried out and theories formulated to try to understand the basic properties of these new materials and the mechanism for Tc. In this selective critical review of the experimental literature, we distill some of this extensive body of work, and discuss relationships betw…
Undoped iron superconductors accommodate $n=6$ electrons in five d-orbitals. Experimental and theoretical evidence shows that the strength of correlations increases with hole-doping, as the electronic filling approaches half-filling with $n=5$ electrons. This evidence delineates a scenario in which the parent compound of iron superconductors is the half-filled system, in analogy to cuprate superconductors. In cuprates the superconductivity can be induced upon electron or hole doping. In this work we propose to search for high-Tc superconductivity and strong correlations in chromium pnictides a…
