THE EFFECT OF DOPING WITH TANTALUM ON THE PROPERTIES OF YBA2CU3O7-Y

YBa2Cu3-xTaxO7-y (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) superconductors have been prepared, X-ray diffraction shows that the system remains orthorhombic for all compositions studied but. for x > 0.2, Ta2O5 was detected as an impurity phase. Substitution of Ta5+ for Cu2+ occurs in the Cu(2) sites on the Cu(2)O planes. The introduction of the high-valence element tantalum produces extra free electrons. These electrons recombine with the positive carrier of the system, which causes the mobility and the Hall number of YBa2Cu3-xTaxO7-y to decrease and also results in a depression in T(c).

SIMULATION OF THE OXYGEN-ATOM VACANCY IN THE HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTOR TIBA2CAN-1CUNO2N+2.5(N = 1)

These simulation calculations for the oxygen-atom vacancy in the high temperature superconductor TlBa2Ca(n-1)Cu(n)O2n+2.5(n = 1) have been performed by means of the tight-binding approximation based on the EHMO method. The results indicate that the effect of the oxygen-atom vacancy on the charge distributions at the Tl-, Ba-, Cu- and O-atom sites is appreciably different and that there may exist two kinds of Cu cation with different net charges (approximately + 3.0 or approximately + 1.0) due to the oxygen-atom vacancy in the lattice. The electric field gradient at the site of the oxygen-atom vacancy has been calculated. The position of the oxygen-atom vacancy which favours the high temperature superconductivity of TlBa2Ca(n-1)Cu(n)O2n+2.5(n = 1) has been discussed.