Probing the Superfluid Stiffness of Superconducting Arsenides

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Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 and started to become useful in applications only in the 1960's. High-temperature superconductivity in copper-containing compounds was discovered in the mid-1980s and raised the prospect of more useful devices utilising superconductivity. Early in 2008, another breakthrough was achieved: very new materials were discovered containing iron (a surprise since magnetic iron was previously thought to be exactly the sort of atom you would not wish to include in a superconductor!) and these have provided an enormous and urgent stimulus to research since the origin of this effect is unknown. Using a combination of synthetic chemistry (an approach which has led to new superconductors being discovered in Oxford in the last few months), high-resolution structural measurements (using neutrons and x-rays) and probes of superfluid stiffness (using muons) we have devised a strategy to provide unique information about these new compounds which we believe will be critical to understanding the mechanism in this fascinating new family of materials.