2001/02/28 by A. Lanzara, Alessandra Lanzara, P. V. Bogdanov +16 · 15 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/35087518
published as Nature 412, 510-514 (2001) · 14 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2001/07/10 · openalex publication_date 2001/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Coupling between electrons and phonons (lattice vibrations) drives the formation of the electron pairs responsible for conventional superconductivity. The lack of direct evidence for electron-phonon coupling in the electron dynamics of the high transition temperature superconductors has driven an intensive search for an alternative mechanism. A coupling of an electron with a phonon would result in an abrupt change of its velocity and scattering rate near the phonon energy. Here we use angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy to probe electron dynamics -velocity and scattering rate- for three different families of copper oxide superconductors. We see in all of these materials an abrupt change of electron velocity at 50-80meV, which we cannot explain by any known process other than to invoke coupling with the phonons associated with the movement of the oxygen atoms. This suggests that electron-phonon coupling strongly influences the electron dynamics in the high-temperature superconductors, and must therefore be included in any microscopic theory of superconductivity.