Possible antipolar pairing mechanism in high-temperature superconductors

Abstract

An antipolar pairing mechanism for free charge carriers in high-Tc superconducting compounds is proposed qualitatively. This involves the establishment of a two-dimensional (2D) array of effective charge-coupling centers within the superconducting lattice via a specific phonon distortion of cation species along a nonmajor crystallographic direction. A fundamental requirement of this model is that the density of such coupling centers decreases with decreasing temperature. In the case of Y-Ba-Cu-O, it is asserted that charge carriers in a 2D oxygen band adjacent to the phonon-containing plane become localized by the resulting (local) field distortion. Cooper pairs may then form when the charge-coupling-center density falls below the charge-carrier density. Such a mechanism could be mediated by a longitudinal phonon which softens at low temperatures to produce an antipolar state, such as that incipient to an antiferroelectric distortion of the lattice (i.e., in the zero-frequency limiting case). This model, which may be investigated experimentally by low-temperature Raman spectroscopy, isotopic substitution, and x-ray diffractometry at 4.2 K, can be applied to all p-type high-Tc systems. In addition, it may account for the observed lattice anisotropy and short coherence length characteristic of these materials.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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