title: Superconductors: unusual oxygen isotope effects in cuprates?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwasawa
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Alexei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Fedorov
authors.forename: Motoyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishikado
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eisaki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bando
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwase
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ino
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arita
authors.forename: Kenya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Namatame
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masui
authors.forename: Setsuko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
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authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aiura
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Dessau