Authored by many of the world's leading experts on high-Tc superconductivity, this volume presents a panorama of ongoing research in the field, as well as insights into related multifunctional materials. The contributions cover many different and complementary aspects of the physics and materials challenges, with an emphasis on superconducting materials that have emerged since the discovery of the cuprate superconductors, for example pnictides, MgB2, H2S and other hydrides. Special attention is also paid to interface superconductivity. In addition to superconductors, the volume also addresses materials related to polar and multifunctional ground states, another class of materials that owes its discovery to Prof. Müller's ground-breaking research on SrTiO3.

This book presents theoretical as well as experimental articles focused on recent new results in high temperature superconductivity. All contributors are high ranking scientists who have done major work to enhance the understanding of this phenomenon. A few articles deal with ferroelectricity and its applications. The book is dedicated to Prof. Dr. K. Alex Müller on his 80th birthday. During his scientific career he made major advances in the understanding of ferroelectricity.

This book presents theoretical as well as experimental articles focused on recent new results in high temperature superconductivity. All contributors are high ranking scientists who have done major work to enhance the understanding of this phenomenon. A few articles deal with ferroelectricity and its applications. The book is dedicated to Prof. Dr. K. Alex Müller on his 80th birthday. During his scientific career he made major advances in the understanding of ferroelectricity.

The exciton mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity in copper oxides was initially proposed by Prof. J. Bardeen. His insight is largely shared by another luminary in superconductivity, Prof. V. L. Ginzburg. The main author of the book, Dr. Nie Luo, was motivated by their insights to give a geometrical explanation to the excitonic Coulomb interaction and has developed a unique formalism to understand and predict physical properties of high-Tc superconductors. This work is supported by increasingly strong evidence for electron–hole interactions in p-type cuprates. The presence of electrons in hole-doped cuprates is revealed by the works of the authors and many others, including the late Prof. L. P. Gor’kov. The book also tries to understand the interlayer Coulomb (ILC) pairing model by the excitonic Coulomb interaction. Developed by Prof. A. J. Leggett, ILC theory shares many views with Ginzburg’s approach. The other author of the book, Prof. George H. Miley, shares with us his personal experience with Prof. Bardeen on the exciton’s role in physics problems including high-Tc superconductivity. The results and predictions of this excitonic Coulomb mechanism have been verified by an increasing number of experiments. This book summarizes the current status and fathoms future directions.

“This collection of reprints allows the reader to chart the course of Müller's scientific development, from his early papers in the late 1950s all the way to high-temperature superconductivity in 1985 … A particular highlight is Müller's work on the Jahn-Teller effect … written in 1967 and appearing only as an article in a conference proceedings is a gem. Other treasures include the reviews on structural phase transitions (from 1981 and 1991, respectively) that are otherwise only obtainable in specialist books.”Contemporary PhysicsIn this book some 50 papers published by K A Müller as author or co-author over several decades, amplified by more recent work mainly by T W Kool with collaborators, are reproduced. The main subject is Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) applied to the study of perovskites and other oxides with related subjects. This wealth of papers is organized into eleven chapters, each with an introductory text written in the light of current understanding. The contributions of the first editor on structural phase transitions have been immense, and because K A Müller and J C Fayet have published a review paper on the subject, the latter is reproduced in chapter VII. Not related to EPR is a part of chapter VIII on the dipolar and quantum paraelectric behavior with dielectric studies. In chapter X two papers proving the existence of Fermi glasses are reproduced.The year 1986 bears some significance: early in this year the paper by Bednorz and Müller on the possible observation of superconductivity was published. This resulted in a substantial shift in the paradigm of condensed matter physics, to which the present first editor has contributed scientifically with others and which will be reviewed in a second volume.

This book is a collection of proceedings of a symposium organized by the North Carolina Section of the American Chemical Society on the preparations, properties, and processing of high-temperature superconducting materials. The proceedings include papers of new results presented at the symposium.

This study reviews the experimental aspects of oxide superconductivity, with transition temperatures from 30 K to above 100 K. It discusses experimental descriptions of principle superconducting compounds and covers VSC theory, electron-photon interaction and new theoretical models.

Since the discovery of the new copper oxide superconductor in 1987, research groups who were preparing superconductivity electronics got into it. The body of this book contain work of researches in this new field. Some of these research groups originates from the semiconductor research field and the competition and collaboration of them accelerated research activities fortunately.

The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in copper based oxides is an event of major importance not only with respect to the physical phenomenon itself but also because it definitely shows that solid state chemistry, and especially the crystal chemistry of oxides, has a crucial place in the synthesis and understanding of new materials for future appli cations. The numerous papers published in the field of high Tc supercon ductors in the last five years demonstrate that the great complexity of these materials necessitates a close collaboration between physicists and solid state chemists. This book is based to a large extent on our experience of the crystal chemistry of copper oxides, which we have been studying in the laboratory for more than twelve years, but it also summarizes the main results which have been obtained for these compounds in the last five years relating to their spectacular superconducting properties. We have focused on the struc ture, chemical bonding and nonstoichiometry of these materials, bearing in mind that redox reactions are the key to the optimization of their supercon ducting properties, owing to the importance of the mixed valence of copper and its Jahn-Teller effect. We have also drawn on studies of extended defects by high-resolution electron microscopy and on their creation by ir radiation effects.

This is an advanced textbook for graduate students and researchers wishing to learn about high temperature superconductivity in copper oxides, in particular the Kamimura-Suwa (K-S) model. Because a number of models have been proposed since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity by Bednorz and Müller in 1986, the book first explains briefly the historical development that led to the K-S model. It then focuses on the physical background necessary to understand the K-S model and on the basic principles behind various physical phenomena such as electronic structures, electrical, thermal and optical properties, and the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity.