For example, various defects can be introduced into the blocking layer to provide the optimum carrier concentration, but defects that form in or adjacent to the CuO{sub 2} layers will lower T{sub c} and eventually destroy superconductivity. After these requirements are satisfied, the highest T{sub c}`s are observed for compounds (such as the HgBa{sub 2}Ca{sub n-1}CuO{sub 2n{plus}2{plus}x} family) that have flat and square CuO{sub 2} planes and long apical Cu-O bonds. This conclusion is confirmed by the study of materials in which the flatness of the CuO{sub 2} plane can be varied in a systematic way. In more recent work, attention has focused on how the structure can be modified, for example, by chemical substitution, to improve flux pinning properties. Two strategies are being investigated: (1) Increasing the coupling of pancake vortices to form vortex-lines by shortening or ``metallizing`` the blocking layer; and (2) the formation of defects that pin flux
