Superconducting materials have recently been discovered which have unprecedented high values of the critical temperature Tc. These values of Tc are so high that new physical mechanisms may be at work. Technological implications are important. Single crystals of these new materials will be produced. Investigations will be made of these single crystals by various methods, including x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, Tc, anisotropy of the upper critical field Hc2(T), specific heat, magnetic susceptibility X(T), and resistance R(T). With collaborators, measurements will be made of the Raman effect, angle-resolved photoemission, optical properties from the near infrared to the ultraviolet, acoustic properties, and possibly inelastic neutron scattering. The main objective is to obtain information about the electrons, the phonons, and the various interactions among these particles to help understand the mechanisms of high temperature superconductivity.
