On the electron pairing mechanism of copper-oxide high temperature superconductivity

The elementary CuO(2) plane sustaining cuprate high-temperature superconductivity occurs typically at the base of a periodic array of edge-sharing CuO(5) pyramids. Virtual transitions of electrons between adjacent planar Cu and O atoms, occurring at a rate t/ℏ and across the charge-transfer energy gap [Formula: see text] , generate “superexchange” spin–spin interactions of energy [Formula: see text] in an antiferromagnetic correlated-insulator state. However, hole doping this CuO(2) plane converts this into a very-high-temperature superconducting state whose electron pairing is exceptional. A leading proposal for the mechanism of this intense electron pairing is that, while hole doping destroys magnetic order, it preserves pair-forming superexchange interactions governed by the charge-transfer energy scale [Formula: see text]. To explore this hypothesis directly at atomic scale, we combine single-electron and electron-pair (Josephson) scanning tunneling microscopy to visualize the interplay of [Formula: see text] and the electron-pair density n(P) in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+x). The responses of both [Formula: see text] and n(P) to alterations in the distance δ between planar Cu and apical O atoms are then determined. These data reveal the empirical crux of strongly correlated superconductivity in CuO(2), the response of the electron-pair condensate to varying the charge-transfer energy. Concurrence of predictions from strong-correlation theory for hole-doped charge-transfer insulators with these observations indicates that charge-transfer superexchange is the electron-pairing mechanism of superconductive Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+x).