Isotope effects in high-Tc cuprate superconductors: Ultimate proof for bipolaron theory of superconductivity

Abstract

Developing a theory of high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides is one of the outstanding problems in physics. Twenty-five years after its discovery, no consensus on the microscopic theory has been reached despite tremendous theoretical and experimental efforts. Attempts to understand this problem are hindered by the subtle interplay among a few mechanisms and the presence of several nearly degenerate and competing phases in these systems. Here we provide unified parameter-free explanation of the observed oxygen-isotope effects on the critical temperature, the magnetic-field penetration depth, and on the normal-state pseudogap for underdoped cuprate superconductors within the framework of the bipolaron theory compatible with the strong Coulomb and Froehlich interactions, and with many other independent observations in these highly polarizable doped insulators. Remarkably, we also quantitatively explain measured critical temperatures and magnitudes of the magnetic-field penetration depth. The present work thus represents an ultimate proof of the bipolaron theory of high-temperature superconductivity, which takes into account essential Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions.

8 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Quantum oscillations and the Fermi surface in an underdoped high-Tc superconductor
• Doping dependence of the coupling of electrons to bosonic modes in the single-layer high-temperature Bi2Sr2CuO6 superconductor
• Superlight small bipolarons in the presence of strong Coulomb repulsion
• Key issues in theories of high temperature superconductors
• The impact of dynamical screening on the phonon dynamics of LaCuO
• Bose-Einstein condensation of strongly correlated electrons and phonons in cuprate superconductors
• Direct evidence for predominantly phonon-mediated pairing in high-temperature superconductors
• Key pairing interaction in layered doped ionic insulators
• Theory of High Temperature Superconductivity in Doped Polar Insulator
• Oxygen-isotope effect on the superconducting gap in the cuprate superconductor Y_{1-x}Pr_xBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}

Cited by in corpus (4)

• An unusual superconducting Isotope Effect in the presence of a Quantum Criticality
• High temperature superconductivity from realistic long-range Coulomb and Fröhlich interactions
• Anomalous isotope effect in BCS superconductors with two boson modes
• Phonon Dispersion Relationship and Oxygen Isotope Effect in Superconductor LaFeAsO