Structure of High Tc Oxide Superconductors

Abstract

Our understanding of the superconducting mechanism in the newly discovered oxide superconductors is closely connected with a detailed knowledge of the structural properties displayed by these materials. Moreover, it is important to explore possible connections between structural and superconducting properties and to establish general structural principles which can guide our search for new compounds.We present here a survey of the structures of the recently discovered oxide superconductors. The common feature of these structures (with the exception of cubic Ba1-x Kx BiO3-y) is the presence of one or more planes of copper atoms with four strongly bonded oxygen atom neighbors in a square planar arrangement at a distance of approximately 1.90 Å (“CuO2 planes”). In some structures these planes occur in groups, with the individual planes inside a group being separated by one Y or Ca layer and the groups being intercalated by a variable number of LaO, BaO, CuO, TIO and/or BiO layers. (The intercalated CuO layer is crystallographically distinct from the “CuO2 plane”). A natural model for superconductivity which arises from these structures is that the conductivity occurs predominantly in the Cu02 planes, while the other (intercalated) layers provide in some fashion carriers and/or the coupling mechanism necessary for the superconductivity.