HP Labs Technical Reports

An Alternating Layer Model of Superconducting Cuprates

Lee, Gregory S.

HPL-91-85

Keyword(s):

Abstract: A model is proposed which adapts BCS theory to describe the nontrivial layering present in the high temperature superconducting cuprates. Starting from a few basic hypotheses, including that of weakly coupled CuO(2) and non-CuO(2) metallic layers, the ground-state wavefunction, Hamiltonian, pair potential, quasiparticle spectrum, and self-consistency condition are derived. A striking difference from the isotropic, homogeneous BCS case is the existence of two branches in the quasiparticle spectrum, one with a "low gap" and the other with a "high gap". These branches can be associated with multiple order parameters. Unlike the temperature dependence of the pair potential, the temperature dependences of both spectral gaps are quite different from the homogeneous BCS result. Various implications of this model for tunneling experiments are described.

Back to Index