A “midinfrared” scenario for cuprate superconductivity

I conjecture that the mechanism of superconductivity in the cuprates is a saving, due to the improved screening resulting from Cooper pair formation, of the part of the Coulomb energy associated with long wavelengths and midinfrared frequencies. This scenario is shown to provide a plausible explanation of the trend of transition temperature with layering structure in the Ca-spaced compounds and to predict a spectacularly large decrease in the electron-energy-loss spectroscopy cross-section in the midinfrared region on transition to the superconducting state, as well as less spectacular but still surprisingly large changes in the optical behavior. Existing experimental results appear to be consistent with this picture.

Information processing in the human brain: magnetoencephalographic approach.

Rapid progress in effective methods to image brain functions has revolutionized neuroscience. It is now possible to study noninvasively in humans neural processes that were previously only accessible in experimental animals and in brain-injured patients. In this endeavor, positron emission tomography has been the leader, but the superconducting quantum interference device-based magnetoencephalography (MEG) is gaining a firm role, too. With the advent of instruments covering the whole scalp, MEG, typically with 5-mm spatial and 1-ms temporal resolution, allows neuroscientists to track cortical functions accurately in time and space. We present five representative examples of recent MEG studies in our laboratory that demonstrate the usefulness of whole-head magnetoencephalography in investigations of spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical signal processing.