Abstract
THE superconducting perovskite (Ba, K)BiO3 (refs 1, 2) has the highest transition temperature known (Tc≈css31 K) aside from the copper oxide compounds3. This system becomes superconducting upon the substitution of monovalent potassium for divalent barium in the parent insulator BaBiO3, analogous to the substitution of strontium for lanthanum in La2CuO4. To understand whether the mechanism of the superconductivity is the same as in the copper oxide compounds, it is important to know the origin of the insulating state of the parent material, as well as the basic character of the metallic state induced by the cation substitution. In the case of its predecessor Ba(Bi,Pb)O3, optical measurements were used to investigate the change in electronic state across the metal-insulator transition at 65% lead doping4. Here we report the successful synthesis of (Ba,K)BiO3 thin films, which has allowed us to measure the optical spectrum, as well as the transport coefficients of (Ba,K)BiO3. Our results, combined with the previous report of the X-ray crystal structure5, strongly suggest that the Peierls gap, responsible for the insulating state of BaBiO3, almost completely vanishes at the metal-insulator transition, resulting in a metallic state described by band theory6.
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Sato, H., Tajima, S., Takagi, H. et al. Optical study of the metal-insulator transition on Ba1–xKxBi03 thin films. Nature 338, 241–243 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/338241a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/338241a0
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