Mechanisms for higher $T_C$ in copper oxide superconductors; Ideas from band calculations

Abstract

Band calculations for the hole doped La$_2$CuO$_4$ system show that artificial periodicities of Ba dopants can give the material different properties than from a uniform distribution of dopants. A periodicity within the planes make static pseudogaps which could be tuned to raise the density-of-states (DOS) at $E_F$ and the superconducting $T_C$. A periodic doping dependence perpendicular to the CuO planes can increase the matrix element for spin fluctuations.

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