Some experimental aspects of the thermal fluctuations around T-c in cuprate superconductors: application to the ''vortex matter''

By mainly using, just as examples, some of the results we have obtained in our group. we first noted some of the advantages and difficulties that may appear when the thermal fluctuations of the Cooper pairs and of the magneti c vortices are used as a tool (which could be nicknamed thermal fluctuation "spectroscopy", TFS) to access at a quantitative level the various central parameters describing the high temperature cuprate (HTSC) physics. Some of the ways to overcome these difficulties are also commented, in particular, in the case of the fluctuations around the T-c of the magnetic vortices in highly anisotropic HTSC. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.