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Letter

Nature Physics 2, 27–31 (1 January 2006) | doi:10.1038/nphys200

Impurity effects on electron|[ndash]|mode coupling in high-temperature superconductors

K. Terashima , H. Matsui , D. Hashimoto , T. Sato , T. Takahashi , H. Ding , T. Yamamoto & K. Kadowaki

Despite years of intensive research on copper oxide superconductors with high transition temperatures (Tc), the driving force of superconductivity has not yet been clarified. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements have uncovered an important contribution of lattice vibrations (phonons) to superconductivity, sparking a fierce debate on the nature of the |[lsquo]|glue|[rsquo]|—phonons or magnetic excitations—binding together the superconducting Cooper pairs.