1,420 research outputs found
Doping evolution of the electronic specific heat coefficient in slightly-doped La2-xSrxCuO4 single crystals
Detailed doping dependence of the electronic specific heat coefficient gamma
is studied for La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) single crystals in the slightly-doped
regime. We find that gamma systematically increases with doping, and
furthermore, even for the samples in the antiferromagnetic (AF) regime, gamma
already acquires finite value and grows with x. This suggests that finite
electronic density of states (DOS) is created in the AF regime where the
transport shows strong localization at low temperatures, and this means the
system is not a real insulator with a clear gap even though it still keeps long
range AF order.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Conference Series (LT25 proceeding
Magnetic order in lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}
We study long wavelength magnetic excitations in lightly doped
La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} (x < 0.03) detwinned crystals. The lowest energy magnetic
anisotropy induced gap can be understood in terms of the antisymmetric spin
interaction inside the antiferromagnetic (AF) phase. The second magnetic
resonace, analyzed in terms of in-plane spin anisotropy, shows unconventional
behavior within the AF state and led to the discovery of collective spin
excitations pertaining to a field induced magnetically ordered state. This
state persists in a 9 T field to more than 100 K above the N\'{e}el temperature
in x = 0.01.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Hall effect in superconducting Fe(Se0.5Te0.5) thin films
The Hall effect is investigated for eight superconducting Fe(Se_0.5_Te_0.5_)
thin films grown on MgO and LaSrAlO_4_ substrates with different transition
temperatures (T_c_). The normal Hall coefficients (R_H_) have positive values
with magnitude of 1 - 1.5 x 10^-3^ cm^3^/C at room temperature for the all
samples. With decreasing temperature, we find two characteristic types of
behavior in R_H_(T) depending on T_c_. For thin films with lower T_c_
(typically T_c_ < 5 K), R_H_ start decreasing approximately below T = 250 K
toward a negative side, some of which shows sign reversal at T = 50 - 60 K, but
turns positive toward T = 0 K. On the other hand for the films with higher T_c_
(typically T_c_ > 9 K), R_ H_ leaves almost unchanged down to T = 100 K, and
then starts decreasing toward a negative side. Around the temperatures when
R_H_ changes its sign from positive to negative, obvious nonlinearity is
observed in the field-dependence of Hall resistance as to keep the low-field
R_H_ positive while the high-field R_H_ negative. Thus the electronic state
just above T_c_ is characterized by n_e_ (electron density) > n_h_ (hole
density) with keeping \mu_e_ < \mu_h_. These results suggest the dominance of
electron density to the hole density is an essential factor for the occurence
of superconductivity in Fe-chalcogenide superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, revised version for Physical Review B. accepted
for publication in Physical Review
Strong charge fluctuations manifested in the high-temperature Hall coefficient of high-T_c cuprates
By measuring the Hall coefficient R_H up to 1000 K in La_2CuO_4,
Pr_{1.3}La_{0.7}CuO_4, and La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 (LSCO), we found that the
temperature (T) dependence of R_H in LSCO for x = 0 - 0.05 at high temperature
undoubtedly signifies a gap over which the charge carriers are thermally
activated, which in turn indicates that in lightly-doped cuprates strong charge
fluctuations are present at high temperature and the carrier number is not a
constant. At higher doping (x = 0.08 - 0.21), the high-temperature R_H(T)
behavior is found to be qualitatively the same, albeit with a weakened
temperature dependence, and we attempt to understand its behavior in terms of a
phenomenological two-carrier model where the thermal activation is considered
for one of the two species. Despite the crude nature of the model, our analysis
gives a reasonable account of R_H both at high temperature and at 0 K for a
wide range of doping, suggesting that charge fluctuations over a gap remain
important at high temperature in LSCO deep into the superconducting doping
regime. Moreover, our model gives a perspective to understand the seemingly
contradicting high-temperature behavior of R_H and the in-plane resistivity
near optimum doping in a consistent manner. Finally, we discuss possible
implications of our results on such issues as the scattering-time separation
and the large pseudogap.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Inhomogeneous CuO_{6} Tilt Distribution and Charge/Spin Correlations in La_{2-x-y}Nd_{y}Sr_{x}CuO$_{4} around commensurate hole concentration
Phononic and magnetic Raman scattering are studied in
LaNdSrCuO with three doping concentrations: x ~
1/8, y = 0; x ~ 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We observe strong disorder
in the tilt pattern of the CuO_{6} octahedra in both the orthorhombic and
tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are coupled to bond disorder
in the cation layers around 1/8 doping independent of Nd concentration. The
weak magnitude of existing charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure
does not allow us to detect the specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics
or two-magnon scattering around 2200 cm-1.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev.
Magnetic shape-memory effects in La2-xSrxCuO4 crystals
The magnetic field affects the motion of electrons and the orientation of
spins in solids, but it is believed to have little impact on the crystal
structure. This common perception has been challenged recently by ferromagnetic
shape-memory alloys, where the spin-lattice coupling is so strong that
crystallographic axes even in a fixed sample are forced to rotate, following
the direction of moments. One would, however, least expect any structural
change to be induced in antiferromagnets where spins are antiparallel and give
no net moment. Here we report on such unexpected magnetic shape-memory effects
that take place ironically in one of the best-studied 2D antiferromagnets,
La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO). We find that lightly-doped LSCO crystals tend to align
their b axis along the magnetic field, and if the crystal orientation is fixed,
this alignment occurs through the generation and motion of crystallographic
twin boundaries. Both resistivity and magnetic susceptibility exhibit curious
switching and memory effects induced by the crystal-axes rotation; moreover,
clear kinks moving over the crystal surfaces allow one to watch the crystal
rearrangement directly with a microscope or even bare eyes.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; shortend version of this paper has been published
in Nature as a Brief Communicatio
Large magneto-thermal effect and the spin-phonon coupling in a parent insulating cuprate Pr_{1.3}La_{0.7}CuO_4
The magnetic-field (H) dependence of the thermal conductivity \kappa of
Pr_{1.3}La_{0.7}CuO_4 is found to show a pronounced minimum for in-plane fields
at low temperature, which is best attributed to the scattering of phonons by
free spins that are seen by a Schottky-type specific heat and a Curie-Weiss
susceptibility. Besides pointing to a strong spin-phonon coupling in cuprates,
the present result demonstrates that the H-dependence of the phonon heat
transport should not be naively neglected when discussing the \kappa(H)
behavior of cuprates, since the Schottky anomaly is ubiquitously found in
cuprates at any doping.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Precision Search for Magnetic Order in the Pseudogap Regime of La2-xSrxCuO4 by Muon Spin Relaxation
We report a high precision search for orbital-like magnetic order in the
pseudogap region of La2-xSrxCuO4 single crystals using zero-field muon spin
relaxation (ZF-muSR). In contrast to previous studies of this kind, the effects
of the dipolar and quadrupolar interactions of the muon with nearby nuclei are
calculated. ZF-muSR spectra with a high number of counts were also recorded to
determine whether a magnetically ordered phase exists in dilute regions of the
sample. Despite these efforts, we find no evidence for static magnetic order of
any kind in the pseudogap region above the hole-doping concentration p = 0.13.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
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