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An explanation for a universality of transition temperatures in families of copper oxide superconductors

Author

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  • Sudip Chakravarty

    (University of California Los Angeles)

  • Hae-Young Kee

    (University of Toronto)

  • Klaus Völker

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

A remarkable mystery of the copper oxide high-transition-temperature (Tc) superconductors is the dependence of Tc on the number of CuO2 layers, n, in the unit cell of a crystal. In a given family of these superconductors, Tc rises with the number of layers, reaching a peak at n = 3, and then declines1: the result is a bell-shaped curve. Despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon, it is still poorly understood and attention has instead been mainly focused on the properties of a single CuO2 plane. Here we show that the quantum tunnelling of Cooper pairs between the layers2 simply and naturally explains the experimental results, when combined with the recently quantified charge imbalance of the layers3 and the latest notion of a competing order4,5,6,7,8,9 nucleated by this charge imbalance that suppresses superconductivity. We calculate the bell-shaped curve and show that, if materials can be engineered so as to minimize the charge imbalance as n increases, Tc can be raised further.

Suggested Citation

  • Sudip Chakravarty & Hae-Young Kee & Klaus Völker, 2004. "An explanation for a universality of transition temperatures in families of copper oxide superconductors," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6978), pages 53-55, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:428:y:2004:i:6978:d:10.1038_nature02348
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02348
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    Cited by:

    1. V. Oliviero & S. Benhabib & I. Gilmutdinov & B. Vignolle & L. Drigo & M. Massoudzadegan & M. Leroux & G. L. J. A. Rikken & A. Forget & D. Colson & D. Vignolles & C. Proust, 2022. "Magnetotransport signatures of antiferromagnetism coexisting with charge order in the trilayer cuprate HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-6, December.
    2. Lichen Wang & Guanhong He & Zichen Yang & Mirian Garcia-Fernandez & Abhishek Nag & Kejin Zhou & Matteo Minola & Matthieu Le Tacon & Bernhard Keimer & Yingying Peng & Yuan Li, 2022. "Paramagnons and high-temperature superconductivity in a model family of cuprates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

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