Abstract
ABSTRACT. We review at an introductory and pedagogical level some aspects of the interplay between inhomogeneities at long length scales (at length scales much bigger than any characteristic length for superconductivity, in particular than the superconducting coherence length amplitude, (T), even at temperatures relatively close to Tc) and the intrinsic fluctuations of Cooper pairs above Tc in high temperature cuprate superconductors (HTSC). These inhomogeneities at long length scales do not directly affect the thermal fluctuations, but they may deeply affect, together (and entangled!) with the thermal fluctuations, the measured behaviour of any observable around the transition. The emphasis is centered on the role played by the presence of T c inhomogeneities, as those associated with oxygen content inhomogeneities, at these long length scales and uniformly or non-uniformly distributed in the samples, on the in-plane transport properties in inhomogeneous HTSC crystals. For completeness, we will also summarize some results on this interplay when various types of inhomogeneities (i.e., structural and stoichiometric, uniformly and non-uniformly distributed) may be simultaneously present.
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Vidal, F., Veira, J.A., Maza, J., Carballeira, J.M., Carballeira, C. (2001). On the Interplay Between T c -Inhomogeneities at Long Length Scales and Thermal Fluctuations Around the Average Superconducting Transition in Cuprates. In: Drechsler, SL., Mishonov, T. (eds) High-Tc Superconductors and Related Materials. NATO Science Series, vol 86. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0758-0_16
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