The intrinsic heterogeneity of superconductivity in the cuprates

Abstract

In the hole-doped, high-temperature superconducting cuprates, an intrinsic heterogeneity is found, from the early observations to recent data. Below optimum doping, the heterogeneity consists of dynamic metallic and, at low temperatures, superconducting regions in the form of clusters or stripes, which develop and decay as a function of time and location in the antiferromagnetic lattice. This behaviour is underlined by the interesting linear relation between the oxygen isotope shifts of the magnetic penetration depth and the critical temperature with a slope that is a factor 2 larger than expected for the homogeneous distribution of superfluid density. Allusion is also made to the Bose-Einstein condensation reported in structurally heterogeneous, polycrystalline polymer platelets as well as especially to the heterogeneous distribution of visible and dark matter in the Universe, which point to a change of paradigm in modern physics.