We investigate the effects of Andreev bound states due to the unconventional pairing on the inverse proximity effect of ferromagnet/superconductor junctions. Utilizing quasiclassical Eilenberger theory, we obtain the magnetization penetrating into the superconductor. We show that in a wide parameter range the direction of the induced magnetization is determined by two factors: whether Andreev bound states are present at the junction interface and the sign of the spin-mixing angle. In particular, when Andreev bound states appear at the interface, the direction of the induced magnetization is opposite to that without Andreev bound states. We also clarify the conditions under which the inverted induced magnetization appears. Applying this novel effect helps distinguishing the pairing symmetry of a superconductor.
We extend the circuit theory of superconductivity to cover transport and proximity effect in mesoscopic systems that contain unconventional superconductor junctions. The approach fully accounts for zero-energy Andreev bound states forming at the surface of unconventional superconductors. As a simple application, we investigate the transport properties of a diffusive normal metal in series with a d-wave superconductor junction. We reveal the competition between the formation of Andreev bound states and proximity effect, that depends on the crystal orientation of the junction interface.
We study tunneling in ferromagnet/unconventional superconductor (F/S) junctions. We include the effects of spin polarization, interfacial resistance, and Fermi wavevector mismatch (FWM) between the F and S regions. Andreev reflection (AR) at the F/S interface, governing tunneling at low bias voltage, is strongly modified by these parameters. The conductance exhibits a very wide variety of features as a function of applied voltage.
Recently there has been reinvigorated interest in the superconducting proximity effect, driven by predictions of the emergence of Majorana fermions. To help guide this search, we have developed a phenomenological model for the tunneling spectra in anisotropic superconductor-normal metal proximity devices. We combine successful approaches used in s-wave proximity and standard d-wave tunneling to reproduce tunneling spectra in d-wave proximity devices, and clarify the origin of various features. Different variations of the pair potential are considered, resulting from the proximity-induced super…
We study theoretically the Josephson effect in junctions based on unconventional superconductors with diffusive barriers, using the quasiclassical Green's function formalism. Generalized boundary conditions at junction interfaces applicable to unconventional superconductors are derived by calculating a matrix current within the circuit transport theory. Applying these boundary conditions, we have calculated the Josephson current in structures with various pairing symmetries. A number of predictions are made: (a) nonmonotonic temperature dependence in d-wave superconductor/diffusive normal meta…
We present a general theory of the proximity effect in junctions between diffusive normal metals (DN) and unconventional superconductors in the framework of the quasiclassical Green's function formalism. Various possible symmetry classes in a superconductor are considered which are consistent with the Pauli principle: even-frequency spin-singlet even-parity (ESE) state, even-frequency spin-triplet odd-parity (ETO) state, odd-frequency spin-triplet even-parity (OTE) state and odd-frequency spin-singlet odd-parity (OSO) state. For each of the above four cases symmetry and spectral properties of …
We study large arrays of mesoscopic junctions between gapless superconductors where the tunneling processes of both, particle-hole and Cooper, pairs give rise to a strongly retarded effective action which, contrary to the standard case, can not be readily characterized in terms of a local Josephson energy. This complexity is expected to arise in, e.g., the grain boundary and c-axis junctions in layered high-T_c superconductors. A new representation for describing collective phenomena in this system is introduced, and its phase diagram is discussed, alongside the electrical conductivity.
We study the influence of non-magnetic impurity scatterings on the tunneling conductance of a junction consisting of a normal metal and a disordered unconventional superconductor by solving the quasiclassical Eilenberger equation self-consistently. We find that the impurity scatterings in both the Born and unitary limits affect the formation of the Andreev bound states and modify strongly the tunneling spectra around zero bias. Our results are interpreted well by the appearance of odd-frequency Cooper pairs near the interface and by the divergent behavior of the impurity self-energy. The prese…
Effect of surface pair breaking, entirely neglected by M. Samanta and S. Datta [Phys. Rev. B v. 57, 10972 (1998)], is quite important in considering surface (or interface) quasiparticle bound states and associated characteristics of junctions involving unconventional superconductors. The whole class of bound states with nonzero energy is simply omitted within the framework of the approach, using uniform spatial profile of the order parameter up to the interface. The contribution of these bound states (as well as midgap states) to current-voltage characteristics of the SIS' tunnel junctions wer…
Resonant proximity effect in the normal metal / insulator / diffusive ferromagnet / insulator / $s$- and d-wave superconductor (N/I/DF/I/S) junctions is studied for various regimes by solving the Usadel equation with the generalized boundary conditions. It is shown that the resonant proximity effect originating from the exchange field in DF layer strongly modifies the tunneling conductance and density of states.
We study spin dependent phonomena in superconducting junctions in both ballistic and diffusive regimes. For ballistic junctions we study both ferromagnet / $s$- and d-wave superconductor junctions and two dimensional electron gas / s-wave superconductor junctions with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. It is shown that the exchange field alway suppresses the conductance while the Rashba spin-orbit coupling can enhance it. In the latter part of the article we study the diffusive ferromagnet / insulator / $s$- and d-wave superconductor junctions, where the proximity effect can be enhanced by the exchan…
We investigate hysteresis in the transport properties of Superconductor - Normal metal - Superconductor (S-N-S) junctions at low temperatures by measuring directly the electron temperature in the normal metal. Our results demonstrate unambiguously that the hysteresis results from an increase of the normal metal electron temperature once the junction switches to the resistive state. In our geometry, the electron temperature increase is governed by the thermal resistance of the superconducting electrodes of the junction.
Giant and nil proximity effects and unconventional symmetry of cuprate superconductors are explained as a result of the strong Froehlich interaction of holes with c-axis polarised optical phonons acting together with an anisotropic nonlocal deformation potential.
We present the theoretical approach to study the unconventional Josephson junction (uJJ) made by putting the non-superconduncting strip on the top of superconducting strip. We work in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau, Bogoliubov de Gennes and Usadel formalisms. We solve the non-linear parital differential equations numerically for few simple cases. We obtaine the eigenenergies of the uJJ by means of combined GL and BdGe method. cases. We predict the occurence of the physical effect, which we call the topological Meissner effect. Basing on the obtained results and current knowledge on Josep…
The modulation with magnetic field of the sheet inductance measured on proximity effect Josephson-junction arrays (JJAs) is progressively vanishing on lowering the temperature, leading to a low temperature field-independent response. This behaviour is consistent with the decrease of the two-dimensional penetration length below the lattice parameter. Low temperature data are quantitatively compared with theoretical predictions based on the XY model in absence of thermal fluctuations. The results show that the description of a JJA within the XY model is incomplete and the system is put well beyo…
We present a theory of the current-voltage characteristics in diffusive superconductor-normal-metal-superconductor junctions. By solving the time-dependent Usadel equations we are able to describe the phase-coherent transport for arbitrary length of the normal wire. We show how the interplay between proximity effect and multiple Andreev reflections gives rise to a rich subgap structure in the conductance and how it is revealed in the non-equilibrium distribution function.
Phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory is used to calculate the possible spontaneous vortex states that may exist at corner junctions of $d_{x^2-y^2}+ix$-wave, (where $x=s$ or $x=d_{xy}$) and s-wave superconductors. We study the magnetic flux and the critical current modulation with the junction orientation angle $θ$, the magnitude of the order parameter, and the magnetic field $H$. It is seen that the critical current $I_c$ versus the magnetic flux $Φ$ relation is symmetric / asymmetric for $x=d_{xy}/s$ when the orientation is exactly such that the lobes of the dominant $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave or…
Following our previous results, which provide evidence for the emergence of a chiral p-wave triplet-pairing component in superconducting Nb upon the adsorption of chiral molecules, we turned to investigate whether such an effect can take place in a proximal superconductor consisting of metal on superconductor bilayer. Note that in such proximity systems, correlated electron-hole (Andreev) pairs exist in the normal metal rather than genuine Cooper pairs. To that end, we used scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) on thin Au films grown in-situ on NbN (a conventional s-wave superconductor) before…
Thin film junctions and bilayers of the doped topological insulator $\rm Bi_2Se_3$ and the s-wave superconductor NbN were found to exhibit conductance spectra with prominent zero bias and coherence peaks. Various tunneling models with different pair potentials have failed to fit our data, except for the triplet $p_x+ip_y$ pair potential, which breaks time reversal symmetry, but yielded reasonably good fits. This provides evidence for proximity induced triplet superconductivity in the $\rm Bi_2Se_3$ layer near the interface with the NbN film.
We consider proximity effect coupling in Superconducting/Antiferromagnetic/Superconducting (S-A-S) sandwiches using the recently developed SO(5) effective theory of high temperature superconductivity. We find that, for narrow junctions, the A region acts like a strong superconductor, and that there is a critical junction thickness which depends on the effective SO(5) coupling constants and on the phase difference across the junction, at which the A region undergoes a Freedericksz-like transition to a state which is intermediate between superconductor and antiferromagnet. For thick junctions, t…
We apply the scattering matrix approach to the triplet proximity effect in superconductor-half metal structures. We find that for junctions that do not mix different orbital modes, the zero bias Andreev conductance vanishes, while the zero bias Josephson current is nonzero. We illustrate this finding on a ballistic half-metal--superconductor (HS) and superconductor -- half-metal -- superconductor (SHS) junction with translation invariance along the interfaces, and on HS and SHS systems where transport through the half-metallic region takes place through a single conducting channel. Our calcula…
We characterize a niobium-based superconducting quantum interference proximity transistor (Nb-SQUIPT) built upon a Nb-Cu-Nb SNS weak link. The Nb-SQUIPT and SNS devices are fabricated simultaneously in two separate lithography and deposition steps, relying on Ar ion cleaning of the Nb contact surfaces. The quality of the Nb-Cu interface is characterized by measuring the temperature-dependent equilibrium critical supercurrent of the SNS junction. In the Nb-SQUIPT device, we observe a maximum flux-to-current transfer function value of about 55 nA/Φ_0 in the sub-gap regime of bias voltages. This …
The transport properties of a topological Josephson junction fabricated from a magnetically doped topological insulator (TI) were investigated. The conductance spectra of the Nb/Fe-Bi$_2$Te$_2$Se/Nb junction below 1 K showed an unusual trident-shaped zero-bias conductance peak with a tiny peak width of $\sim$ 6 $μ$V. The central peak of the trident peak presents the dc-Josephson current, and the side peaks may reflect an induced unconventional Cooper pairing. Additionally, the critical currents followed inverse to temperature, which may also reflect the presence of an unconventional proximity …
The proximity effect, quasiparticle transport, and local magnetic moment in ferromagnet--d-wave superconductor junctions with {110}-oriented interface are studied by solving self-consistently the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations within an extended Hubbard model. It is found that the proximity induced order parameter oscillates in the ferromagnetic region. The modulation period is shortened with the increased exchange field while the oscillation amplitude is depressed by the interfacial scattering. With the determined superconducting energy gap, a transfer matrix method is proposed to compute the…
In diffusive Josephson junctions the phase-difference $ϕ$ between the superconductors strongly influences the spectroscopic features of the layer separating them. The observation of a uniform minigap and its phase modulation were only recently experimentally reported, demonstrating agreement with theoretical predictions up to now - a vanishing minigap at $ϕ=π$. Remarkably, we find that in the presence of intrinsic spin-orbit coupling a giant proximity effect due to spin-triplet Cooper pairs can develop at $ϕ=π$, in complete contrast to the suppressed proximity effect without spin-orbit couplin…
Proximity effects and pair currents were measured in epitaxial trilayer \textit{c-axis} junctions comprise of a $PrBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ barrier sandwiched in between an overdoped $Y_{0.94}Ca_{0.06}Ba_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ and underdoped $YBa_2Cu_{2.7}Co_{0.3}O_y$ layers. These junctions had two $\rm T_c$ values of $\rm T_c(high)=84-86$ K and $\rm T_c(low)=50-55$ K, allowing investigation when both electrodes are superconducting, or when only one is superconducting while the other is in its pseudogap regime. For T below $\rm T_c(high)$ but much above $\rm T_c(low)$, two distinct proximity effect transition…
Josephson effect in junctions between unconventional superconductors is studied theoretically within the model describing the effects of interface roughness. The particularly important issue of applicability of the frequently used Sigrist-Rice formula for Josephson current in d-wave superconductor / insulator / d-wave superconductor junctions is addressed. We show that although the SR formula is not applicable in the ballistic case, it works well for rough interfaces when the diffusive normal metal regions exist between the d-wave superconductor and the insulator. It is shown that the SR appro…
We study and classify the proximity-induced superconducting pairing in a topological insulator (TI)-superconductor (SC) hybrid structure for SCs with different symmetries. The Dirac surface state gives a coupling between spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairing amplitudes as well as pairing that is odd in frequency for p-wave SCs. We also find that all SCs induce pairing that is odd in both frequency and orbital (band) index, with oddness in frequency and orbital index being completely interchangeable. The different induced pairing amplitudes significantly modifies the density of states in the TI…
Superconductivity is shown to be completely destroyed in thin mesoscopic or nanoscopic rings closed by the junction with a noticeable interfacial pair breaking and/or a Josephson coupling, if a ring's radius r is less than the minimum radius r_min. The quantity r_min depends on the phase difference across the junction, or on the magnetic flux that controls the phase difference in the flux-biased ring. It also depends on the Josephson and interfacial effective coupling constants, and in particular, on whether the ring is closed by 0 or pi junction. The current-phase relation is substantially mo…
Multiterminal Josephson junctions have recently been proposed as a route to artificially mimic topological matter with the distinct advantage that its properties can be controlled via the superconducting phase difference, giving rise to Weyl points in 4-terminal geometries. A key goal is to accurately determine when the system makes a transition from a gapped to non-gapped state as a function of the phase differences in the system, the latter effectively playing the role of quasiparticle momenta in conventional topological matter. We here determine the proximity gap phase diagram of diffusive …
Tunneling conductance in ferromagnet / unconventional superconductor junctions is studied theoretically as a function of temperatures and spin-polarization in feromagnets. In d-wave superconductor junctions, the existence of a zero-energy Andreev bound state drastically affects the temperature-dependence of the zero-bias conductance (ZBC). In p-wave triplet superconductor junctions, numerical results show a wide variety in temperature-dependence of the ZBC depending on the direction of the magnetic moment in ferromagnets and the pairing symmetry in superconductors such as $p_{x}$, $p_{y}$ and …
We study the proximity effect in SF'(AF)F'S and SF'(F)F'S planar junctions, where S is a clean conventional (s-wave) superconductor, while F' and middle layers are clean or moderately diffusive ferromagnets. Middle layers consist of two equal ferromagnets with antiparallel (AF) or parallel (F) magnetizations that are not collinear with magnetizations in the neighboring F' layers. We use fully self-consistent numerical solutions of the Eilenberger equations to calculate the superconducting pair amplitudes and the Josephson current for arbitrary thickness of ferromagnetic layers and the angle be…
We theoretically study the local density of states in superconducting proximity structure where two superconducting terminals are attached to a side surface of a normal-metal wire. Using the quasiclassical Green's function method, the energy spectrum is obtained for both of spin-singlet $s$-wave and spin-triplet $p$-wave junctions. In both of the cases, the decay length of the proximity effect at the zero temperature is limited by a depairing effect due to inelastic scatterings. In addition to the depairing effect, in $p$-wave junctions, the decay length depends sensitively on the transparency…
We analyze the charge and spin transport through a ballistic ferromagnet/insulator/superconductor junction by means of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. For the ferromagnetic side we assume that ferromagnetism may be driven by an unequal mass renormalization of oppositely polarized carriers, i.e. a spin bandwidth asymmetry, and/or by a rigid splitting of up-and down-spin electron bands, as in a standard Stoner ferromagnet, whereas the superconducting side is assumed to exhibit a d-wave symmetry of the order parameter, which can be pure or accompanied by a minority component breaking time-rev…
An array of resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junctions with nonsinusoidal current-phase relation is considered for modelling the transition in high-T$_c$ superconductors. The emergence of higher harmonics, besides the simple sinusoid $I_{c}\sinϕ$, is expected for dominant \emph{d}-wave symmetry of the Cooper pairs, random distribution of potential drops, dirty grains, or nonstationary conditions. We show that additional cosine and sine terms act respectively by modulating the global resistance and by changing the Josephson coupling of the mixed superconductive-normal states. Firs…
We study the perpendicular transport characteristics of small superconductor/ferromagnetic insulator/superconductor (YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$/LaMnO$_{3+δ}$/YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$) tunnel junctions. At a large bias voltage $V\sim 1$ V we observe a step-like onset of excess current that occurs below the superconducting transition temperature $T<T_c$ and is easily suppressed by a magnetic field. The phenomenon is attributed to a novel type of the superconducting proximity effect of non-equilibrium electrons injected into the conduction band of the ferromagnetic insulator via a Fowler-Nordheim tunne…
We report experiments on micron-scale normal metal loop connected by superconducting wires, where the sample geometry enables full modulation of the thermal activation barrier with applied magnetic flux, resembling a symmetric quantum interference device. We find that except a constant factor of five, the modulation of the barrier can be well fitted by the Ambegaokar-Halperin model for a resistively shunted junction, extended here to a proximity junction with flux-tunable coupling energy estimated using quasiclassical theory. This observation sheds light on the understanding of effect of therm…
The proximity effect in a model manganite-cuprate system is investigated theoretically. We consider a situation in which spin-polarized electrons in manganite layers antiferromagnetically couple with electrons in cuprate layers as observed experimentally. The effect of the interfacial magnetic coupling is found to be much stronger than the injection of spin-polarized electrons into the cuprate region. As a result, the superconducting transition temperature depends on the thickness of the cuprate layer significantly. Since the magnetic coupling creates {\em negative} spin polarization, an appli…
Enhanced proximity effect by mid gap Andreev resonant state (MARS) in a diffusive normal metal / insulator / triplet superconductor (DN/TS) junction is studied based on the Keldysh-Nambu quasiclassical Green's function formalism. By choosing a p-wave superconductor as a typical example of TS, conductance of the junction and the spatial variation of quasiparticle local density of states (LDOS) in DN are calculated as the function of the magnitudes of the resistance $R_{d}$, Thouless energy in DN and the transparency of the insulating barrier. The resulting conductance spectrum has a zero bias c…
We propose a trilayer $π$-junction that takes advantage of the unconventional $s_{x^2 y^2}=\cos k_x \cos k_y$ pairing symmetry which changes sign between electron and hole Fermi pockets in the iron pnictides. In addition, we also present theoretical results for Andreev bound states in thin superconductor-normal metal (or insulator) iron-pnictide junctions. The presence of nontrivial in-gap states, which uniquely appear in this unconventional pairing state, is a distinct feature in comparison to other singlet pairing states.
We observe an unconventional superconducting minigap induced into a ferromagnet SrRuO$_3$ from a spin-triplet superconductor Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ using a Au/SrTiO$_3$/SrRuO$_3$/Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ tunnel junction. Voltage bias differential conductance of the tunnel junctions exhibits V-shaped gap features around zero bias, corresponding to a decrease in the density-of-states with an opening of a superconducting minigap in SrRuO$_3$. Observation of a minigap at a surface of a 15~nm thick SrRuO$_3$ layers confirms the spin-triplet nature of induced superconductivity. The shape and temperature dependence of t…
We study the physical properties of a half-metallic ferromagnet$\mid$superconductor (HM$\mid$S) bilayer, allowing for an arbitrary bulk pairing symmetry of the superconductor and spin-dependent processes at the interface. In particular, we study how the possibility of unconventional pairing such as $p$- and d-wave and a spin-active interface influence the \textit{(i)} conductance spectra, \textit{(ii)} proximity effect, and \textit{(iii)} local density of states of such a bilayer. Our calculation is done both analytically and numerically in the ballistic limit, using both a continuum- and latt…
We analyze the transport properties of contacts between unconventional superconductor and normal diffusive metal in the framework of the extended circuit theory. We obtain a general boundary condition for the Keldysh-Nambu Green's functions at the interface that is valid for arbitrary transparencies of the interface. This allows us to investigate the voltage-dependent conductance (conductance spectrum) of a diffusive normal metal (DN)/ unconventional singlet superconductor junction in both ballistic and diffusive cases. For d-wave superconductor, we calculate conductance spectra numerically fo…
The anomalous proximity effect in dirty superconducting junctions is one of most striking phenomena highlighting the profound nature of Majorana bound states and odd-frequency Cooper pairs in topological superconductors. Motivated by the recent experimental realization of planar topological Josephson junctions, we describe the anomalous proximity effect in a superconductor/semiconductor hybrid, where an additional dirty normal-metal segment is extended from a topological Josephson junction. The topological phase transition in the topological Josephson junction is accompanied by a drastic chang…
To reveal the influence of the exchange interaction on the Josephson effect, the d.c. Josephson current in unconventional-superconductor / ferromagnet / unconventional-superconductor junctions is studied. When the two superconductors have d-wave symmetry, the Josephson current is drastically suppressed with the increase of the exchange interaction. On the other hand, when the two superconductors have different parities, e.g. s-wave and p-wave, an enhancement of the Josephson current is obtained with the increment of the exchange interaction due to the break-down of SU(2) symmetry in the spin s…
We report on transport properties of Josephson junctions in hybrid superconducting-topological insulator devices, which show two striking departures from the common Josephson junction behavior: a characteristic energy that scales inversely with the width of the junction, and a low characteristic magnetic field for suppressing supercurrent. To explain these effects, we propose a phenomenological model which expands on the existing theory for topological insulator Josephson junctions.
Topological superconductivity is central to a variety of novel phenomena involving the interplay between topologically ordered phases and broken-symmetry states. The key ingredient is an unconventional order parameter, with an orbital component containing a chiral $p_x$ + i$p_y$ wave term. Here we present phase-sensitive measurements, based on the quantum interference in nanoscale Josephson junctions, realized by using Bi$_2$Te$_3$ topological insulator. We demonstrate that the induced superconductivity is unconventional and consistent with a sign-changing order parameter, such as a chiral $p_…
We present tunnel spectroscopy experiments on the proximity effect in lateral superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephson junctions. Our weak link is embedded into a superconducting (S) ring allowing phase biasing of the Josephson junction by an external magnetic field. We explore the temperature and phase dependence of both the induced mini-gap and the modification of the density of states in the normal (N) metal. Our results agree with a model based on the quasiclassical theory in the diffusive limit. The device presents an advanced version of the superconducting quantum inter…
Muon spin relaxation ($μ$SR) measurements on the new layered cobalt oxide superconductor Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_{2}\cdot$1.3H$_{2}$O and its parent, non-superconducting compounds, have revealed unconventional nature of superconductivity through: (1) a small superfluid energy which implies a surprisingly high effective mass of the charge carriers, approximately 100 times the bare electron mass; (2) the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ scaling with the superfluid energy following the correlations found in high-$T_{c}$ cuprate and some other two-dimensional superconductors; (3) an anisotro…
Josephson junctions were photogenerated in underdoped thin films of the YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ family using a near-field scanning optical microscope. The observation of the Josephson effect for separations as large as 100 nm between two wires indicates the existence of an anomalously large proximity effect and show that the underdoped insulating material in the gap of the junction is readily perturbed into the superconducting state. The critical current of the junctions was found to be consistent with the conventional Josephson relationship. This result constrains the applicability of SO(5) th…
With simple but exactly solvable model, we investigate the supercurrent transferring through the c-axis cuprate superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junctions with the clean normal metal much thicker than its coherence length. It is shown that the supercurrent as a function of thickness of the normal metal decreases much slower than the exponential decaying expected by the proximity effect. The present result may account for the giant proximity effect observed in the c-axis cuprate SNS junctions.
We use a tight-binding Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) formalism to self-consistently calculate the proximity effect, Josephson current, and local density of states in ballistic graphene SNS Josephson junctions. Both short and long junctions, with respect to the superconducting coherence length, are considered, as well as different doping levels of the graphene. We show that self-consistency does not notably change the current-phase relationship derived earlier for short junctions using the non-selfconsistent Dirac-BdG formalism but predict a significantly increased critical current with a stronger…
There is compelling evidence for a strong electron-phonon interaction (EPI) in cuprate superconductors from the isotope effects on the supercarrier mass, high resolution angle resolved photoemission spectroscopies (ARPES), a number of optical and neutron-scattering measurements in accordance with our prediction of high-temperature superconductivity in polaronic liquids. A number of observations point to the possibility that high-Tc cuprate superconductors may not be conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors, but rather derive from the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of real…