Persistence of Small Polarons in Doped Bismuthate Superconductors
Bismuthates like (Ba1-xKxBiO3) BKBO host high-Tc superconductivity via doping a charge-density-wave insulating phase.- While electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling is proposed to play a key role, the bismuthate normal state is anomalous and poorly understood.
- Researchers from IRGs 1, 2, and the Paul-Sherre Institute combined resonant inelastic x-ray and neutron total scattering techniques with advanced modeling to address this problem.
- The team found that the doped system hosts short-range structural distortions of the lattice with a sizable e-ph coupling deep into the material’s metallic phase.
- These findings demonstrate that BKBO’s metallic phase is an anomalous and highly sought after bipolaronic liquid.
