Thermal conductivity is a powerful probe of electronic quasiparticles, especially at low temperatures. At higher temperatures it gives very useful information on the behavior of quasiparticles and phonons, however both contributions are more difficult to identify precisely. / We carried out a comparative study of the thermal conductivity in the hole and electron-doped cuprates, focussed on Bi2Sr2CaCu 2O8 (hole-doped) and Pr1.85Ce0.15CuO 4 (electron-doped). After a brief review of the literature it was clear that these families show very different physical properties, although they present similar features in their structure and phase diagram. / We detected the presence of a residual normal fluid in Bi2Sr 2CaCu2O8, in rather good agreement with the theory for d-wave superconductors, and showed its absence in Pr 1.85Ce0.15CuO4, firm indication of a nodeless gap. At higher temperatures we observed for the first time a peak below Tc in the thermal conductivity of Pr1.85Ce 0.15CuO4.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21584 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Lambert, Patrik, 1973- |
| Contributors | Taillefer, Louis (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001655236, proquestno: MQ50810, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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