Physics Colloquium, September 25, 2001

Stripe Phases in High Temperature Superconductors

John Tranquada

Physics Dept., Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

The occurrence of high-temperature superconductivity in layered copper-oxide compounds has confounded researchers for more than a decade. These materials are doped Mott insulators, and, surprisingly, they retain some features typical of a correlated insulator, such as local antiferromagnetism, even in the superconducting regime. Neutron and x-ray scattering experiments have provided evidence that the contrary insulating and metallic characteristics of the cuprates are accommodated by a spatial separation of the charge carriers and the local magnetic moments that takes the form of a dynamic stripe phase. The experimental evidence for charge stripes will be explained, and the implications of stripe correlations for the superconductivity will be discussed.

3.30 p.m., Smith Laboratory, Room 1005

Refreshments served in Smith 1094 at 3:00 p.m.