Numerical Study of the Wheatley-Hsu-Anderson Interlayer Tunneling mechanism of High $T_c$ Superconductivity

TL;DR

This study uses exact diagonalization to investigate how interlayer tunneling affects high-temperature superconductivity in a two-plane t-J model, highlighting the importance of the interlayer mechanism.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence supporting the interlayer tunneling mechanism as a key factor in high $T_c$ superconductivity, especially under the strict no-double-occupancy constraint.

Findings

Interlayer coupling enhances in-plane superconducting correlations at small hole doping.

Relaxing the no-double-occupancy constraint removes the enhancement.

Results support the interlayer tunneling mechanism as a contributor to high $T_c$ superconductivity.

Abstract

We present results obtained (by exact diagonalization) for the problem of two t-J planes with an interlayer coupling $t_\perp$. Our results for small hole concentrations show that in-plane superconducting correlations are enhanced by $t_\perp$. When the constraint on double occupancy in the t-J model is relaxed, the enhancement disappears. These results illustrate the inter--layer tunneling mechanism for superconductivity.