Zigzag Filamentary Theory of Broken Symmetry of Neutron and Infrared Vibronic Spectra of YBa2Cu3O(6+x)

Abstract

Filamentary high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) theory differs fundamentally from continuous HTSC theories because it emphasizes self-organized, discrete dopant networks and does not make the effective medium approximation (EMA). Analysis of neutron and infrared (especially with c-axis polarization) vibrational spectra, primarily for YBa2Cu3O(6+x), within the filamentary framework, shows that the observed vibronic anomalies near 400 cm-1 (50 meV) are associated with curvilinear filamentary paths. these paths pass through cuprate chains and planes, as well as resonant tunneling centers in the BaO layers. The analysis and the data confirm earlier filamentary structural models containing ferroelastic domains of 3-4 nm in the CuO2 planes; it is these nanodomains that are responsible for the discrete glassy nature of both electronic and vibronic properties. Chemical trends in vibronic energies and oscillator strengths, both for neutron and photon scattering, that were anomalous in continuum models, are readily explained by the filamentary model.