The planar oxygen isotope effect on Tc observed in copper oxide superconductors is remarkable in that it increases from near nil at optimal doping to a value twice that derived from BCS theory in the underdoped region. This behavior is quantitatively followed by a formula proposed by Kresin and Wolf in 1994 for polarons along the c-axis. Herein it is revisited in a more transparent way, and it is pointed out that the heterogeneity of pairing is relevant and has to be taken into account to explain the unusual planar isotope effects on Tc in underdoped cuprates.
The authors thank Vladimir Kresin for bringing an earlier incomplete version of Equations (6) and (7) to their attention.
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