Thermal transport in the cuprates: Changes with doping across the phase diagram
- Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics
An overview of recent developments in the understanding of thermal conduction in the cuprates is presented. Anomalous phonon damping underlies an unusual temperature dependence of the in-plane thermal conductivity ({kappa}{sub ab}) for the insulating phases of some materials. This damping is sensitive to light oxygen doping in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6+x} (YBCO), is possibly related to local structural distortions, and may persist in superconducting compositions. New systematics for the superconducting-state enhancement of {kappa}{sub ab} are discussed. For YBCO the oxygen-doping dependence of the enhancement correlates with that of the pair density as determined by specific heat jumps. The large enhancements observed for fully-oxygenated specimens are attributed to pair condensation on the CuO chains. The implications of this finding and its possible connection with the emergence of the normal-state pseudogap are examined.
- OSTI ID:
- 548448
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960163--; ISBN 0-8194-2071-9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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