Josephson plasma resonance and phonon anomalies in trilayer Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 -: art. no. 277001

The far-infrared (FIR) c axis conductivity of a Bi2223 crystal has been measured by ellipsometry. Below T-c a strong absorption band develops near 500 cm(-1), corresponding to a transverse Josephson plasmon. The related increase in FIR spectral weight leads to a giant violation of the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham sum rule. The gain in c axis kinetic energy accounts for a sizable part of the condensation energy. We also observe phonon anomalies which suggest that the Josephson currents lead to a drastic variation of the local electric field within the block of closely spaced CuO2 planes.