High pressure synthesis of novel high T_c superconductors

Abstract

We discuss the advantages of high pressure in studying high T _c superconductors (HTSs). HTSs, in general, can be viewed as perovskite derivatives containing a [CuO₂] plane. We will describe the crystal structure assembly of HTSs on the basis of the ‘extended infinite layer model’. Then, we introduce some topics related to high pressure synthesized superconductors in A–Cu–O systems (A represents alkaline earth elements) like the Cu-12(n − 1)n superconducting homologous series. Also included in the article is the high pressure high temperature synthesized Cl-02(n-1)n superconducting homologous series, highlighting the ‘apical oxygen doping’ mechanism to generate p-type superconductivity.

Keywords:

• High pressure synthesis
• High T _c superconductors
• Perovskite-like compounds
• Multilayered [CuO₂] planes
• Oxyhalide cuprates
• Infinite layer model

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the NSFC, MOST (2002CB613301) and CAS.