R. J. McQueeney

Electron–phonon interactions in HTSC cuprates

Abstract Phonons have been generally considered to be irrelevant to the high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates. However, such a bias is usually based upon the assumption of conventional electron–phonon coupling, while in the cuprates the coupling can be rather unconventional because of strong electron correlation. We present the results of our recent measurements of phonon dispersion in YBa2Cu3O6+x by inelastic neutron scattering. These suggest certain phonon modes interact strongly with electrons and are closely involved in the superconductivity phenomenon with possible contribution to pairing.

Observation of transverse phonon modes in the first Brillouin zone in aluminum

Abstract We describe phonon dispersion measurements on a single crystal of aluminum, using the 1280-pixel low-angle detector on PHAROS at Los Alamos. “Forbidden” transverse phonons are observed in the first Brillouin zone: these are due to multiple scattering that preserves the Q-dependence of the dispersion surface. We discuss the use of large-area detectors for imaging dispersion surfaces.

Phonon Dispersion Measurements of YBa2Cu3O6.15 and YBa2Cu3O6.95 by Time-of-Flight Neutron Spectroscopy

We measured the phonon dispersions of YBa2Cu3O6.15 and YBa2Cu3O6.95 by time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering. The in-plane bond-stretching modes in the metallic phase showed a distinct a-b plane anisotropy beyond what is expected for structural origin. Such anisotropy in the longitudinal optical modes, which is absent in the TO, suggests strong in-plane anisotropy in the underlying electronic structure. Apical oxygen bond-stretching modes showed a large frequency change between the insulating and the metallic phases. This large softening also is beyond structural origin, and suggests the effect of local electronic environment.

A local dynamic correlation function from inelastic neutron scattering

Information about local and dynamic atomic correlations can be obtained from inelastic neutron scattering measurements by Fourier transform of the Q-dependent intensity oscillations at a particular frequency. A local dynamic structure function, S(r,{omega}), is defined from the dynamic scattering function, S(Q,{omega}), such that the elastic and frequency-integrated limits correspond to the average and instantaneous pair-distribution functions, respectively. As an example, S(r,{omega}) is calculated for polycrystalline aluminum in a model where atomic motions are entirely due to harmonic phonons.