Coherence and superconductivity in coupled one-dimensional chains: a case study of YBa2Cu3Oy

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Apr 8;94(13):137004. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.137004. Epub 2005 Apr 8.

Abstract

We report the infrared (IR) response of Cu-O chains in the high-T(c) superconductor YBa(2)Cu(3)O(y) over the doping range spanning y=6.28-6.75. We find evidence for a power law scaling at mid-IR frequencies consistent with predictions for Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, thus supporting the notion of one-dimensional transport in the chains. We analyze the role of coupling to the CuO2 planes in establishing metallicity and superconductivity in disordered chain fragments.