Superlight Small Bipolarons: A Route to Room Temperature Superconductivity

Abstract

Extending the BCS theory towards the strong electron-phonon interaction (EPI), a charged Bose liquid of small bipolarons has been predicted by us with a further prediction that the highest superconducting critical temperature is found in the crossover region of the EPI strength from the BCS-like to bipolaronic superconductivity. Later on we have shown that the unscreened (infinite-range) Fröhlich EPI combined with the strong Coulomb repulsion create superlight small bipolarons, which are several orders of magnitude lighter than small bipolarons in the Holstein–Hubbard model (HHM) with a zero-range EPI. The analytical and numerical studies of this Coulomb–Fröhlich model (CFM) provide the following recipes for room-temperature superconductivity: (a) The parent compound should be an ionic insulator with light ions to form high-frequency optical phonons, (b) the structure should be quasi two-dimensional to ensure poor screening of high-frequency phonons polarized perpendicular to the conducting planes, (c) a triangular lattice is required in combination with strong, on-site Coulomb repulsion to form the small superlight bipolaron, (d) moderate carrier densities are required to keep the system of small bipolarons close to the Bose-Einstein condensation regime. Clearly most of these conditions are already met in the cuprates.