2010 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy of High T c Cuprates
Authors : Ivan Maggio-Aprile, Christophe Berthod, Nathan Jenkins, Yanina Fasano, Alexandre Piriou, Øystein Fischer
Published in: Nanoscience and Engineering in Superconductivity
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.
Select sections of text to find matching patents with Artificial Intelligence. powered by
Select sections of text to find additional relevant content using AI-assisted search. powered by
Tunneling spectroscopy played a central role in the experimental verification of the microscopic theory of superconductivity in the classical superconductors. In the case of high-temperature superconductors (HTS), the initial attempts to adopt the same approach were hampered by various problems related to the complexity of these materials. The progresses made in synthesizing high quality samples, and the use of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) on these compounds allowed to overcome the main difficulties. In this review, we present some of the experimental highlights obtained with STM/STS techniques over the last decade. Most of the results confirm the fact that this new class of materials differ noticeably from the conventional BCS superconductors, and provide convincing arguments toward the understanding of the microscopic mechanisms at the origin of high-temperature superconductivity.