Electronic Structure and Superconductivity of High T sub c Cu-Oxides (14 November 1988)

The discovery of superconductivity with transition temperatures around 100K has challenged our traditional understanding of this phenomenon. ALthough it is generally believed that electron paring occurs also in the high T sub c cuprates, the mechanism responsible for this pair binding is still widely debated. The starting point for developing an understanding is to consider the electronic structure of both the insulating parent compounds and the "doped" superconducting compounds. 

From this one attempts to derive the nature of quasiparticles and of the low lying excitation modes in the system. These are then to be used as input quantities into the theory of superconductivity. Excitation modes with phonon, spin and charge degrees of freedom are considered and are invoked to interpret experimental spectroscopic information. Although substantial progress is being made a firm understanding is still lacking.