In the proposed study of the novel high-temperature iron pnictide superconductors by scanning tunneling spectroscopy we want to address some of the key questions concerning the properties of this new class of materials, such as whether spin density wave (SDW) order and superconductivity coexist in the same areas of a sample and what the symmetry of the order parameter is. The identification of spectroscopic features related to the SDW phase and superconductivity will allow studying their doping dependence from a tunneling point of view. A further goal of our investigations will be to explore the role of inhomogeneity in these materials, which is an inherent property due to dopand disorder. Ultimately, we hope that the proposed research may help to deepen our understanding of superconductivity and the macroscopic properties of iron pnictides by relating transport properties to the electronic excitations close to the Fermi energy.
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