Percolative model of nanoscale phase separation in high-temperature superconductors
10 May 2002
The nature or the phase diagrams or high-temperature superconductors is clarified by discussing two kinds of phase diagram: that of the host crystalline lattice, and that of the dopant glass. The latter is associated with changes in the electronic properties, while the former is much more accessible to direct experimental identification, by diffraction, of nanoscale phase separation. Careful examination of electronic properties in both the normal and the superconductive states reveals that there are several electronic miscibility gaps in YBa2Cu3Ox and L2-xSrxCuO4 that have been previously overlooked. Recent experiments on the pseudogap in Bi2Sr1.6La0.4CuOy also reveal an electronic miscibility gap.