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 fact that magnetite (Fe304) was already known in the Greek era as a peculiar mineral is indicative of the long history of transition metal oxides as useful materials. The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in 1986 has renewed interest in transition metal oxides. High-temperature su perconductors are all cuprates. Why is it? To answer to this question, we must understand the electronic states in the cuprates. Transition metal oxides are also familiar as magnets. They might be found stuck on the door of your kitchen refrigerator. Magnetic materials are valuable not only as magnets but as electronics materials. Manganites have received special attention recently because of their extremely large magnetoresistance, an effect so large that it is called colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). What is the difference between high-temperature superconducting cuprates and CMR manganites? Elements with incomplete d shells in the periodic table are called tran sition elements. Among them, the following eight elements with the atomic numbers from 22 to 29, i. e. , Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu are the most im portant. These elements make compounds with oxygen and present a variety of properties. High-temperature superconductivity and CMR are examples. Most of the textbooks on magnetism discuss the magnetic properties of transition metal oxides. However, when one studies magnetism using tradi tional textbooks, one finds that the transport properties are not introduced in the initial stages.

With the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, research into polarons and bipolarons has attracted much attention. This book is the first standard reference to give a comprehensive view of the polaron and bipolaron theory of high-temperature superconductivity, one of the most significant discoveries in physics in the past decade. Scientists have also observed polarons and bipolarons in magnetic semiconductors and transition metal oxides. The thorough investigation of these nonsuperconducting materials has contributed greatly to our basic understanding of the physical properties of both polarons and bipolarons. This book contains a series of authoritative articles on the most advanced research on polarons and bipolarons in high-temperature superconductors and related materials. This book will be of great interest to researchers in condensed matter physics, and especially those working in the field of superconductivity.

Transition metal oxides form a series of compounds with a uniquely wide range of electronic properties. They have important applications as dielectrics, semiconductors, and metals, and as materials for magnetic and optical uses. The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductors has brought the attention of a wide scientific community to this area, and has highlighted the problems involved in trying to understand transition metal oxides. The present book is not primarily about high Tc superconductors, although their properties are discussed in the final section. The main aim is to describe the varied electronic behavior shown by transition metal oxides, and to discuss the different types of theoretical models that have been proposed to interpret it. It is intended to provide an introduction to this fascinating and complex field, at a level suitable for graduate students and other research workers with a background in solid-state chemistry or physics.

Physics and Chemistry of Transition-Metal Oxides includes both theoretical and experimental approaches to the variety of phenomena found in the transition-metal oxides, including high-temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, and metal-insulator transition. These are the central issues in materials science and condensed matter physics/chemistry, and readers can obtain up-to-date information on what is happening in this field of research.

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.

Introduction: Transition metal oxides represent a large class of compounds with a uniquely wide range of electronic properties. Some of these properties, like the magnetism of loadstone, have been known since antiquity. Others, like high-temperature superconductivity have been discovered only recently and indeed would have been thought of being impossible 20 years ago. Transition metal oxides may be good insulators, semiconductors, metals or superconductors. Many of them display a metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) as a function of an external control parameter (usually temperature, pressure or chemical composition). The differences of electrical conductivity are also reflected by drastic changes of other physical properties related to the electronic structure. The electrical, magnetic and optical properties of transition metal oxides find a rich field of important technical applications. A classical example is the wide use of ferrites in electronic devices. Further examples of suitable technological applications include wide gap semiconductors, superconductors and thermoelectric materials, to mention just a few. Apart from these exciting electronic properties, some transition metal oxides exhibit a remarkable mechanical and high-temperature stability together with a strong resistance against corrosion, thus forming ideal coating materials. Several transition metal oxides may also serve as catalysts. It was the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates and, subsequently, of the colossal magneto-resistance effect (CMR) in the manganates that triggered a tremendous research effort in transition metal oxides during the last decade. [...]

Physics of High-Tc Superconductors highlights the important experiments that provide insights on the concept of high-temperature superconductors. Composed of 11 chapters, this book covers the theories and materials of these superconductors. The opening chapters of this book deal with the concepts at the cutting edge of materials science and the technical details of electron-phonon interaction calculations and their application to high-Tc superconductors. The subsequent chapters describe the various features of the atomic and electronic structure of high-Tc superconductor materials, such as quaternary, metallic, and pseudoperovskite copper oxides. These topics are followed by descriptions of the isotope effect, lattice vibrations, and optical spectra of high-Tc superconductor materials. The discussion then shifts to tunneling, relaxation, and morphological studies of these materials. The concluding chapter focuses on the superconductivity potential of bismates and thallates. Undergraduate materials science students will find this book invaluable.