High-temperature cuprates

Zhao G.-M., Keller H., and Conder K, (2001). Unconventional isotope effects in the high-temperature cuprate superconductors../. Phys. Conderts. Matter 13 R569-R587. 

It should be noted that some mechanism other than the electron-phonon coupling of BCS theory must be operative for organic superconductors (Tc < 13 K) and for high-temperature cuprate superconductors (Tc< 125 K). 

A major scientific breakthrough in the area of material science involving copper occurred in late 1986 and early 1987 the discovery of the so-called high-temperature cuprate superconductors (see Superconductivity). These copper-oxide containing materials hold the record for the highest transition temperature (Tc, the temperature at which all resistance to electricity is lost), currently 133 K, which is sigiuficant... 

Similarities between organic and cuprate superconductor has been review by McKenzi [153]. One of the greatest challenges of condensed matter physics has been the search for a correct theoretical description of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors. 

The structural feature common to all the high temperature cuprate superconductors discovered to date is the presence of two-dimensional sheets of Cu02. While much has been learned... 

Table 4.7 High-temperature cuprate superconducting oxides...

Among the normal-state transport properties of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors, the Hall effect remains one of the most difflcult to explain. In the majority of the cuprates, the Hall coefficient Jin falls monotonically with increasing temperature. The... 

Although several other types of exotic superconductors (e.g., organic superconductors, heavy-fermion f-electron superconductors, magnetically ordered superconductors, multinary rare-earth, actinide, and transition-metal superconductors) have been investigated intensely since 1986, the cuprate superconductors have received by far the most attention because the highest values of the superconducting critical temperature are found in this class of materials. Rare-earth and actinide elements are key constituents of many of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors and have played a prominent role in the development of the first and some of the more important cuprate superconductors. 

In view of the importance of high-temperature superconductivity in the layered cuprates and the role played by the rare earths, it seemed appropriate to prepare these volumes of the Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths on High-Temperature Superconductivity in Layered Cuprates . We believe that researchers already working in this field, as well as those intending to enter this field, will find valuable information in the review articles contained in these volumes. Since many of the cuprate superconductors do not contain rare-earth or actinide elements, yet have characteristics and properties similar to those that do, the range of materials considered in these volumes has been broadened to a limited extent to include all high-temperature cuprate superconductors, irrespective of whether they contain rare-earth or actinide elements. 

The discovery of a high temperature cuprate superconductor by Bednorz and Miiller in 1986 [38] generated a renaissance in solid sate chemistry. The parent compound, La2Cu04, in fact, is an antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulator. Its structure is given in 16.47. Here, the small gray spheres are oxygen atoms, and the lar ge open spheres are... 

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