ABSTRACTThe La2−xSrxCuO4 phase diagram is interpreted within the framework of a transition from localized to itinerant electronic behavior. In the underdoped region 0 < x < 0.1, holes in the x2 – y2 band are not small polarons; each occupies a mobile correlation bag of 5 to 6 copper centers at temperatures T > TF, a spinodal phase segregation into the parent antiferromagnetic phase and a polaron liquid is accomplished below TF by cooperative oxygen displacements. In the overdoped compositions > x > 0.25, holes are excluded from strong-correlation fluctuations within a Fermi liquid. In the intermediate range 0.1 < x < 0.25, the polaron liquid formed below room temperature changes character with increasing x and decreasing T. In the polaron liquid, mobile two-hole bags of four copper centers order with decreasing temperature into alternate CuO-Cu rows of a superconductive CuO2 sheet at a critical composition xc ≍ 1/6. It is argued that hybridization of itinerant electrons with optical-mode phonons propagating along the Cu-O-Cu rows produces heavy electrons responsible for high-temperature superconductivity.
