The oxygen isotope effect in the ab-plane reflectance of underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}

Abstract

We have measured the effect of oxygen isotope substitution on the ab-plane reflectance of underdoped YBCO. The frequency shift of the transverse optic phonons due to the substitution of O-16 by O-18 yields an isotope effect of the expected magnitude for copper-oxygen stretching modes with alpha=0.5 +- 0.1. The reflectance shoulder at 400 - 500 cm^-1 shows a much smaller exponent of alpha=0.1 +- 0.1 in the normal state and alpha=0.23+- 0.1 in the superconducting state. These observations suggest that the shoulder is of electronic origin and not due to a phonon mode as has been suggested recently.

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• Analysis of the elementary excitations in high-T_c cuprates: explanation of the new energy scale observed by ARPES
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• Infrared scattering rate of overdoped Tl${}_2$Ba${}_2$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$
• Characteristics of oxygen isotope substitutions in the quasiparticle spectrum of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+\delta }$
• Strong electron-Boson coupling effect in the infrared spectra of $T{l}_{2}B{a}_{2}CaC{u}_2{O}_{8+\delta }$
• Relationship between the isotope effects on transition temperature, specific heat and penetration depths
• Strong-coupling Effects in cuprate High-$T_c$ Superconductors by magnetooptical studies
• Anomalous isotope effect in BCS superconductors with two boson modes