Spectroscopy of High-Tc Superconductors

Book excerpt: Despite ten years of intensive research, many questions remain unanswered concerning the nature of the electronic structure (Fermi vs non-Fermi liquid) and mechanisms of superconductivity. Spectroscopy of High-Tc Superconductors, A Theoretical View provides a current, comprehensive review of the experimental results and theoretical interpretations concerning elementary excitation spectra (electronic, phononic, charge, and spin fluctuations) in high-Tc superconductors (HTSC). It discusses accepted microscopic models that describe the electronic structure of the copper-oxide plane - the three-band model, the generalized Emery model, the one-band Hubbard model, different kinds of the t-J model, and the regular Kondo-lattice model - and compares them with ARPES experiments. Leading Russian researchers also consider experimental results obtained by Raman scattering both by phonons and electronic excitations, including magnetic excitations in antiferromagnets in the normal phase, on almost all the types of superconducting cuprates. The results are treated theoretically with the emphasis on features thought to be related to superconductivity. The book also gives an account of the properties of the microwave surface impedance and complex conductivity as functions of temperature common for high-quality single crystals: YBCO, BSCCO, TBCCO, and BKBO. The basics of the muon method and a review of experimental results for superconducting states of different HTSC-compounds are also presented. By offering a thorough examination of current research in the field, this book will appeal to advanced students and researchers working in superconductivity and theoretical condensed matter physics.