1. Were the Basic Physics Underlying High Temperature Superconductivity
UC Merced
Were the Basic Physics Underlying High Temperature Superconductivity
Revealed in 1941?
Paul Michael Grant
Aging IBM Pensioner
Principal, W2AGZ Technologies
Please view in “slide show” mode!

2. The Great Colossal Quantum Conundrum of HTSC in Cuprates, Ferrous Oxides, etc.
“SDW” “NEEL” “A-F” T
“Funny Metal” “Pseudogap” “Fond AF Memories”
“Real Metal” “Fermi Liquid”
U = 3
U = 0
“Funny Metal” “Pseudogap” “Fond AF Memories”
U = 6
Is HTSC driven by “shakes or spins”
...or both? Well?
Superconductivity g*
“Insulator”
“Conductor” g
“Order Parameter”
(charge, magnetic field, pressure...whatever)

3. What’s Past (May Be) Prologue
Attributed to Bill S., edited by Paul G.
Did this former Harvard/MIT postdoc guess the mechanism 76 years ago? !

4. Chauncey Starr
The Physics Years ( )
Birth of the Nuclear Age ( )
UCLA & Risk Analysis ( )
The EPRI Years ( )
Please Visit Chauncey’s Page at

5. Casimir-du Pre’ (Physica V, 1938) & Starr (PR 60, 1941)

6. ...Continued...

7. “Chauncey’s Rig”
It’s a “lock-in amplifier!” (aka phase sensitive detector)
Starr was the first to apply PSD methods to measurement of thermal conductivity and likely saved the Nobel Prize award to Percy Bridgman (that’s another story)

8. TM Compounds Studied at 77K
OK...but now, what about having a look at copper oxide perovskites and iron pnictides hopefully uncovering phonon-spin coupling as a pairing mechanism for HTSC?

9. Macfarlane, Rosen, Seki, SSC 63, 831 (1987) Raman Spectroscopy of YBCO
The Shakes Are There!
Macfarlane, Rosen, Seki, SSC 63, 831 (1987)
Raman Spectroscopy of YBCO
We can see Phonons have been around ever since the
Creation of HTSC!
...And so have Spins!
(Cu3+/Cu2+)

10. What a Great PhD Thesis Project!
Thoroughly review the 1941 Starr paper and all its references.
Configure an appropriate PSD setup with a cryogenic sample chamber between 10 T dipoles.
Check out a few of the Starr measurements on paramagnetic compounds of Fe, Mn and/or Cr.
Then grind up some Y-123 (with various oxgyen levels), and measure...if results mimic Chauncey
Derive an alternative to McMillan-Eliashberg fermion-fermion coupling which contains spins as well as phonons, and apply. If it “works,” then...
Prepare for an eventual trip to Stockholm!