# Understanding electron-doped cuprate superconductors as hole superconductors

## TL;DR

This paper argues that both electron- and hole-doped cuprate superconductors share a common origin in hole carrier pairing, challenging existing models and proposing a simpler, earlier-suggested theoretical framework that aligns with experimental observations.

## Contribution

It presents a new model for cuprate superconductivity based on hole pairing, supported by experimental data, and claims to be more natural and simpler than existing theories.

## Key findings

- Superconductivity in both types originates from hole pairing in the same band.
- The proposed model agrees with tunneling and other experimental data.
- The model was proposed before key experiments, emphasizing its naturalness.

## Abstract

Since their experimental discovery in 1989, the electron-doped cuprate superconductors have presented both a major challenge and a major opportunity. The major challenge has been to determine whether these materials are fundamentally different from or essentially similar to their hole-doped counterparts; a major opportunity because answering this question would strongly constrain the possible explanations for what is the essential physics that leads to high temperature superconductivity in the cuprates, which is still not agreed upon. Here we argue that experimental results over the past 30 years on electron-doped cuprate materials have provided conclusive answers to these fundamental questions, by establishing that both in hole- and electron-doped cuprates, superconductivity originates in pairing of hole carriers in the same band. We discuss a model to describe this physics that is different from the generally accepted ones, and calculate physical observables that agree with experiment, in particular tunneling characteristics. We argue that our model is simpler, more natural and more compelling than other models. Unlike other models, ours was originally proposed before rather than after many key experiments were performed.