Defects and Superconductivity in the Copper Oxides

Few superconducting materials have presented us with the structural elegance and complexity displayed by the recently discovered high-Tc copper oxides. The structures of these materials, consisting of metal-oxygen layers stacked in a variety of sequences, with the metal atoms often in unusual coordinations, are interesting in their own right. More importantly, our present understanding of the properties of the oxide superconductors depends heavily on a knowledge of their structures.