Critical temperature and pairing in superconducting copper oxides

Superconducting copper oxides (cuprates) exhibit a superconducting phase below a singular temperature, the critical temperature, Tc. The electrons are then paired in the same way as electrons in conventional superconductors (certain elements of the periodic table). However, their pairing energy, 1, does not seem to find a direct correspondence with the critical temperature, unlike in classical superconductors where Tc is typically proportional to 1. We will see that by conducting a detailed exploration of the electronic excitations in the superconducting phase of cuprates by inelastic light scattering, we are able to establish a new relationship, which simply associates the critical temperature Tc and the electron pairing energy 1. The anisotropy of the dynamics of electronic excitations in pulse space plays a major role in establishing this new relationship.