Dynamics of Magnetic Fluctuations in High-Temperature Superconductors

Book excerpt: This NATO Advanced Research Workshop was held at a time when there was little consensus as to the mechanism for high temperature superconductivity, in the context of a world undergoing major changes in its political alignments and sense of the possibility for the future. It was characterized by generosity in the sharing of our uncertainties and speculations, as was appropriate for both the subject matter and the context. The workshop was organized, of necessity around the experimental work, as is this volume. Where the theoretical work is directly relevant to particular experiments, it is included in the appropriate sections with them. Most of the participants felt strongly that magnetic fluctuations played an important role in the mechanism for high T c, although with the exception of the IlS R work reported by Luke showing results inconsistent with the anyon picture, and the work on flux phases by Lederer, the mechanism remained an issue in the background. A major focus was the phenomenological interpretation of the NMR data.