Developing a theory of high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides is one of the outstanding problems in physics. Twenty-five years after its discovery, no consensus on the microscopic theory has been reached despite tremendous theoretical an
d experimental efforts. Attempts to understand this problem are hindered by the subtle interplay among a few mechanisms and the presence of several nearly degenerate and competing phases in these systems. Here we provide unified parameter-free explanation of the observed oxygen-isotope effects on the critical temperature, the magnetic-field penetration depth, and on the normal-state pseudogap for underdoped cuprate superconductors within the framework of the bipolaron theory compatible with the strong Coulomb and Froehlich interactions, and with many other independent observations in these highly polarizable doped insulators. Remarkably, we also quantitatively explain measured critical temperatures and magnitudes of the magnetic-field penetration depth. The present work thus represents an ultimate proof of the bipolaron theory of high-temperature superconductivity, which takes into account essential Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions.
We show that the recent reinterpretation of oxygen isotope effects in cuprate superconductors by D. R. Harshman et al. is mathematically and physically incorrect violating the Anderson theorem and the Coulomb law.
