arXiv:cond-mat/0008128 · Physical Review Letters
Proximity Effects and Quantum Dissipation in the Chains of YBa2Cu3O6+x
Dirk K. Morr, Alexander V. Balatsky
Abstract
We argue that the results of recent scanning tunneling microscopy, angle-resolved photoemission, and infrared spectroscopy experiments on the CuO chains of YBa2Cu3O6+x are consistently explained within a proximity model by the interplay of a coherent chain-plane and an incoherent and indirect interchain coupling. We show that the CuO2 planes act as an Ohmic heat bath for the chain fermions and induce a substantial quantum dissipation. Below the planar T(c), charge excitations in the chains acquire a universal superconducting gap.