This paper attempts to clarify the significance of the thermal conductivity of a La
1.8Sr
0.2CuO
4-y superconductor. The onset and zero-resistance temperature of the La-Sr-Cu-O superconductor were 42K and 30.5K, respectively. The thermal conductivity decreased gradually with decreasing temperature for the normal conductive state in the temperature range of 160 and 40K, i.e., 23.8W/(m·K) at 160K and 17.4W/(m·K) at 40K. In the superconducting transition range, the thermal conductivity increased very greatly with decreasing temperature a maximum value of 21.7W/(m·K) at 23K and decreased greatly with decreasing temperature. A similar sharp peak of the thermal conductivity has been found for Y-based oxide superconductors and hence it is concluded that the sharp increase of thermal conductivity is a common characteristic for high transition temperature (Tc) oxide superconductors.
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