Nicole Bontemps’s research while affiliated with ESPCI Paris and other places

The real part of the optical in-plane conductivity of p-- and n--type cuprates thin films at various doping levels was deduced from highly accurate reflectivity measurements. We present here a comprehensive set of optical spectral weight data as a function of the temperature $T (> T_c$), for underdoped and overdoped samples. The temperature dependence of the spectral weight is not universal. Using various cut-off frequencies for the spectral weight, we show that n--type Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$ and p--type Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ exhibit both similarities and striking differences. The Fermi surface is closed in overdoped metallic samples. In underdoped Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$ samples, it clearly breaks into arcs, giving rise to a "pseudogap" signature. It is argued that such a signature is subtle in underdoped Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$. Comment: Proceedings M2SHTSCVIII, to appear in Physica C

In conventional BCS superconductors, the electronic kinetic energy increases upon superfluid condensation (the change DEkin is positive). Here we show that in the high critical temperature superconductor Bi-2212, DEkin crosses over from a fully compatible conventional BCS behavior (DEkin>0) to an unconventional behavior (DEkin<0) as the free carrier density decreases. If a single mechanism is responsible for superconductivity across the whole phase diagram of high critical temperature superconductors, this mechanism should allow for a smooth transition between such two regimes around optimal doping. Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures

Para una película delgada epitaxial superconductora de Bi2Sr2CaC2O8+d crecida sobre un substra-to de LaAlO3, por el método de pulverización catódica a altas presiones de oxígeno, se comparan las mediciones de la resistividad dc en el plano ab con los valores encontrados al calcular la con-ductividad infraroja, cuando la frecuencia tiende a cero, a través del cálculo del peso espectral, después de aplicar la regla de la suma de Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham (FGT), considerando el modelo de Drude-Lorentz-London. La conductividad óptica fue obtenido de la medida de la reflectividad entre 30-25000 cm-1 y temperaturas entre 20 y 30K.