Interlayer Tunneling and Gap Anisotropy in High-Temperature Superconductors

Abstract

A quantitative analysis of a recent model of high-temperature superconductors based on an interlayer tunneling mechanism is presented. This model can account well for the observed magnitudes of the high transition temperatures in these materials and implies a gap that does not change sign, can be substantially anisotropic, and has the same symmetry as the crystal. The experimental consequences explored so far are consistent with the observations.