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High-temperature cuprate superconductors studied by x-ray Compton scattering and positron annihilation spectroscopies

The bulk Fermi surface in an overdoped ($x = 0.3$) single crystal of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ has been observed by using x-ray Compton scattering. This momentum density technique also provides a powerful tool for directly seeing what the dopant Sr atoms are doing to the electronic structure of La$_2$CuO$_{4}$. Because of wave function effects, positron annihilation spectroscopy does not yield a strong signature of the Fermi surface in extended momentum space, but it can be used to explore the role of oxygen defects in the reservoir layers for promoting high temperature superconductivity.