On the Role of Polarization of Oxygen Ions and Mechanism of Superconductivity in Cuprate Superconductors

Abstract

A new approach to the valence electron state in cuprate superconductors leading to a new mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity is considered. The approach takes into account specific features of the outer electron shells of the compound-forming elements and polarization of anions by cations. The polarization of anions by copper cations results in sharing of a valence electron by every two neighboring ions, which gives rise to a highly correlated state of the valence electrons and formation of a localized spin-ordered electron lattice responsible for dielectric and magnetic properties of an undoped material. It is also shown that asymmetric polarization of an anion by cations with inert gas shells transforms an unshared anion electron pair into a superconducting one by exciting it into a hybrid state. The superconducting state of the material itself results from formation and delocalization of one-dimensional Wigner crystals of the excited pairs.