THE SCREENING EFFECT OF PHONON MODES IN HIGH-Tc OXIDE SUPERCONDUCTOR

This paper presents three different kinds of infrared (IR) spectra of oxide materials. The first one is the IR reflection spectra of Ti₂Ba₂Ca₂Cu₃O₁₀ superconducting film at the incident angles 7°, 12° and 30°. The second one is the IR spectra of nonsuperconducting ceramic materials YBa₂Cu₃O₆ and PrBa₂Cu₃O₇. The third one is the IR spectra of superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_7-$delta$ and of its film with the c-axis perpendicular to the film plane, as well as the changes in the spectra of these materials after annealing at different temperatures. It is found that in the spectra of high-T_c oxide superconductor, only the phonon modes along c-axis can be observed while the modes in a-b plane are absent. But in the spectra of nonsuperconductors the modes in a-b plane can be observed, particularly in the absorption spectra of the semiconductor YBa₂Cu₃O₆, all eleven allowed IR active modes have been detected. We suggest that the above experimental phenomena may result from the fact that the phonon modes vibrating in the a-b plane of the high-T_c oxide superconducting materials are almost screened by the free carriers which can move only in a-b plane.