Superconductors: unusual oxygen isotope effects in cuprates?
The possibility that a pairing boson might act as the 'glue' to bind electrons into a Cooper pair in superconductors with a high critical temperature (T(c)) is being actively pursued in condensed-matter physics. Gweon et al. claim that there is a large and unusual oxygen-isotope effect on the electronic structure, indicating that phonons have a special importance in high-temperature superconductors. However, we are unable to detect this unusual oxygen-isotope effect in new data collected under almost identical material and experimental conditions. Our findings point towards a more conventional influence of phonons in these materials.
Douglas
John F
JF
Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
Iwasawa
Hideaki
H
Sun
Zhe
Z
Fedorov
Alexei V
AV
Ishikado
Motoyuki
M
Saitoh
Tomohiko
T
Eisaki
Hiroshi
H
Bando
Hiroshi
H
Iwase
Takeshi
T
Ino
Akihiro
A
Arita
Masashi
M
Shimada
Kenya
K
Namatame
Hirofumi
H
Taniguchi
Masaki
M
Masui
Takahiko
T
Tajima
Setsuko
S
Fujita
Kazuhiro
K
Uchida
Shin-ichi
S
Aiura
Yoshihiro
Y
Dessau
Daniel S
DS