Abstract
In conventional superconductors, lattice vibrations (phonons) mediate the attraction between electrons that is responsible for superconductivity. The high transition temperatures (high-Tc) of the copper oxide superconductors has led to collective spin excitations being proposed as the mediating excitations in these materials. The mediating excitations must be strongly coupled to the conduction electrons, have energy greater than the pairing energy, and be present at Tc. The most obvious feature in the magnetic excitations of high-Tc superconductors such as YBa 2Cu3O6+x is the so-called 'resonance'. Although the resonance may be strongly coupled to the superconductivity, it is unlikely to be the main cause, because it has not been found in the La 2-x(Ba,Sr)xCuO4 family and is not universally present in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (ref. 9). Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to characterize possible mediating excitations at higher energies in YBa2Cu3O 6.6. We observe a square-shaped continuum of excitations peaked at incommensurate positions. These excitations have energies greater than the superconducting pairing energy, are present at Tc, and have spectral weight far exceeding that of the 'resonance'. The discovery of similar excitations in La2-xBaxCuO4 (ref. 10) suggests that they are a general property of the copper oxides, and a candidate for mediating the electron pairing.
Recommended Citation
S. M. Hayden et al., "The Structure Of The High-energy Spin Excitations In A High-transition-temperature Superconductor," Nature, vol. 429, no. 6991, pp. 531 - 534, Nature Research, Jun 2004.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02576
Department(s)
Materials Science and Engineering
Publication Status
Full Access
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0028-0836
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
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© 2026 Nature Research, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
03 Jun 2004
Comments
National Science Foundation, Grant None