NI AND ZN DOPING OF CU SITES IN SUPERCONDUCTING ND2-ZCEZCUO4, LA2-BETA-SR-BETA-CUO4, BI2SR2CACU2O8, BI1-CENTER-DOT-8PB0-CENTER-DOT-2SR2CA2CU3O10, YBA2CU3O7, ENTER-DOT-4BA1-CENTER-DOT-35LA0-CENTER-DOT-65CU3OX AND YBA2CU4O8

A unified Cooper pair-breaking picture is presented for the observed d egradation of the superconducting critical temperatures by Cu-site Zn and Ni impurities in Nd2-zCezCuO4, La2-betaSrbetaCuO4, Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, Bi1.8PbO.2Sr2Ca2- Cu3O10, La0.6Ca0.4Ba1.35La0.65Cu3Ox, (with x approxi mate to 7), YBa2Cu3O7 and YBa2Cu4O8. Independent of any specific model , the data alone require physics outside rite cuprate planes, and henc e no two-dimensional cuprate-plane model can consistently explain all the Zn and Ni pair-breaking data. In Nd2-xCezCuO4, Ni and Zn behave as in a BCS superconductor. Although the Ni- and Zn-doping data for YBa2 Cu3O7 have been cited as providing the so-called 'smoking gun' conclus ive proof of the spin-fluctuation model, we conclude that the underlyi ng assumptions of that data-analysis, that Ni and Zn occupy the same s ites and that Ni is a weaker pair-breaker than Zn, are invalid: we arg ue that the exchange scattering of Cooper-pairs in YBa2Cu3Ox, is inope rative. Thus, except for Nd2-zCezCuO4 whose charge-reservoirs are adja cent to its cuprate-planes and hence are uniquely within the range of exchange scattering by cuprate-plane Cu-site Ni ions, the exchange sca ttering caused by the difference between cuprate-plane Ni and Zn impur ities is inoperative in these high-temperature superconductors - a fac t difficult and perhaps impossible to reconcile with any cuprate-plane model of superconductivity that also features a Meissner effect and C ooper pairing. We interpret the inoperative exchange scattering as evi dence that the primary superconducting condensate is outside the range of the exchange interaction - and hence in the charge reservoirs, rat her than in the cuprate-planes. The trends in observed pair-breaking c ritical compositions u(c) define approximately exponential functions o f the distance d between the impurity sites and the charge-reservoir d opant-oxygen - also indicative of charge reservoir superconductivity. The critical tempertures T-c increase (approximately linearly) with d (again, consistent with charge-reservoir superconductivity), suggestin g that higher critical temperatures can be achieved in materials with increased separation between the cuprate planes and the charge reservo irs. The cuprate planes appear to be mechanically favourable, but elec tronically unfavourable to superconductivity. A consistent explanation of all the Ni- and Zn-doping data is obtained (i) if the superconduct ivity originates in the charge-resevoir or dopant-oxygen regions of ea ch unit cell (not in the cuprate planes), (ii) if the short-ranged exc hange scattering by magnetic Ni readily breaks Cooper-pairs whose hole s are located on nearest-neighbour oxygen ions only, (iii) if a longer -ranged interaction is responsible for the degradation of T-c by Zn an d by Ni distant from the superconducting condensate, and (iv) if polar ization fluctuations are responsible for the Cooper pairing. Thr pair- breaking data contradict nor only the spin-fluctuation d-wave pairing model, but also all models with the superconductivity originating in c uprate planes.