Reply to "Comment on 'Isotope effect in high-Tc superconductors' "

TL;DR

This paper defends the original analysis of isotope effects in high-Tc superconductors against a comment, emphasizing correct experimental interpretation and criticizing the comment's theoretical inaccuracies and misinterpretations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed rebuttal to a comment, clarifying the experimental basis and correcting misconceptions about isotope effects and pair-breaking in high-Tc superconductors.

Findings

Experimental evidence supports the original interpretation of isotope effects.

The comment's theory contradicts multiple experimental facts.

Misinterpretations in the comment lead to incorrect conclusions about superconducting parameters.

Abstract

Our paper on the isotope effect in high-temperature superconductors with cation substitutions presents a comprehensive analysis rooted completely in the experimental evidence. In this Reply we show that pair-breaking disorder, isotope effects, doping-induced variations in Tc and in the magnetic penetration depth, Coulomb's law, and Anderson's theorem are treated with correct physical and mathematical fundamentals. In contrast, the theory fostered in the Comment by Alexandrov and Zhao contradicts several specific experimental facts, eight of which are briefly discussed. Their Comment also uncritically repeats a previously discredited assertion of an isotope effect in the superconducting carrier mass, incorrectly assumes that cation doping continuously varies intrinsic superconducting parameters, unjustifiably assigns importance to data from samples with serious quality problems, and renders a false estimate of the pair-breaking strength.