Underdoped Superconductors Fill the Gap

摘要

The Physics Top Ten this period is heavily freighted by experimental papers #1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 on the unusual behavior of under-doped high-T_c (critical temperature) superconductors. They have frozen out string theory (#4, 8, 10), while astrophysics and cosmology have, for the moment, dropped beyond view. The experimental thrust in superconductor physics, reflected in our highly cited papers, is to determine the fundamental physics of cuprate superconductivity rather than to search for immediate applications. The superconductor center stage in #1, 3, 7, and 9, is Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_(8+δ), compacted to Bi2212 in the literature. The copper oxide superconductors crystallize in layers with CuO_2 slices alternating with the charge reservoir layers. Research attention is directed at mechanisms and structures.