Mesoscopic phase separation in La2CuO4.02 - a 139La NQR study

In crystals of La2CuO4.02 oxygen diffusion can be limited to such small length scales, that the resulting phase separation is invisible for neutrons. Decomposition of the 139La NQR spectra shows the existence of three different regions, of which one orders antiferromagnetically below 17K concomitantly with the onset of a weak superconductivity in the crystal. These regions are compared to the macroscopic phases seen previously in the title compound and the cluster-glass and striped phases reported for the underdoped Sr-doped cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 5 figures, to be published in PR

Pseudogap behavior of nuclear spin relaxation in high Tc superconductors in terms of phase separation

We analyze anew experiments on the NMR in cuprates and find an important information on their phase separation and its stripe character hidden in the dependence of $1/^{63}T_{1}$ on degree of doping. In a broad class of materials $1/^{63}T_{1}$ is the sum of two terms: the temperature independent one attributed to ``incommensurate'' stripes that occur at external doping, and an ``universal'' temperature dependent term ascribed to moving metallic and AF sub-phases. We argue that the frustrated first order phase transition in a broad temperature interval bears a dynamical character.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; some comments and references added; accepted for publication in JETP Letter