Metal-to-Insulator Crossover in the Low-Temperature Normal State of Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}CuO_{6+\delta}

We measure the normal-state in-plane resistivity of La-doped Bi-2201 single crystals at low temperatures by suppressing superconductivity with 60-T pulsed magnetic fields. With decreasing hole doping, we observe a crossover from a metallic to insulating behavior in the low-temperature normal state. This crossover is estimated to occur near 1/8 doping, well inside the underdoped regime, and not at optimum doping as reported for other cuprates. The insulating regime is marked by a logarithmic temperature dependence of the resistivity over two decades of temperature, suggesting that a peculiar charge localization is common to the cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Conductance of Disordered Wires with Symplectic Symmetry: Comparison between Odd- and Even-Channel Cases

The conductance of disordered wires with symplectic symmetry is studied by numerical simulations on the basis of a tight-binding model on a square lattice consisting of M lattice sites in the transverse direction. If the potential range of scatterers is much larger than the lattice constant, the number N of conducting channels becomes odd (even) when M is odd (even). The average dimensionless conductance g is calculated as a function of system length L. It is shown that when N is odd, the conductance behaves as g --> 1 with increasing L. This indicates the absence of Anderson localization. In the even-channel case, the ordinary localization behavior arises and g decays exponentially with increasing L. It is also shown that the decay of g is much faster in the odd-channel case than in the even-channel case. These numerical results are in qualitative agreement with existing analytic theories.Comment: 4 page

Conductance and Its Variance of Disordered Wires with Symplectic Symmetry in the Metallic Regime

The conductance of disordered wires with symplectic symmetry is studied by a random-matrix approach. It has been shown that the behavior of the conductance in the long-wire limit crucially depends on whether the number of conducting channels is even or odd. We focus on the metallic regime where the wire length is much smaller than the localization length, and calculate the ensemble-averaged conductance and its variance for both the even- and odd-channel cases. We find that the weak-antilocalization correction to the conductance in the odd-channel case is equivalent to that in the even-channel case. Furthermore, we find that the variance dose not depend on whether the number of channels is even or odd. These results indicate that in contrast to the long-wire limit, clear even-odd differences cannot be observed in the metallic regime.Comment: 9pages, accepted for publication in JPS

16O+16O^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O} nature of the superdeformed band of 32S^{32}{\rm S} and the evolution of the molecular structure

The relation between the superdeformed band of $^{32}{\rm S}$ and $^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O}$ molecular bands is studied by the deformed-base antisymmetrized molecular dynamics with the Gogny D1S force. It is found that the obtained superdeformed band members of $^{32}{\rm S}$ have considerable amount of the $^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O}$ component. Above the superdeformed band, we have obtained two excited rotational bands which have more prominent character of the $^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O}$ molecular band. These three rotational bands are regarded as a series of $^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O}$ molecular bands which were predicted by using the unique $^{16}{\rm O}$ -$^{16}{\rm O}$ optical potentil. As the excitation energy and principal quantum number of the relative motion increase, the $^{16}{\rm O} + ^{16}{\rm O}$ cluster structure becomes more prominent but at the same time, the band members are fragmented into several states

Zn-doping effect on the magnetotransport properties of Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}CuO_{6+\delta} single crystals

We report the magnetotransport properties of Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}Cu_{1-z}Zn_{z}O_{6+\delta} (Zn-doped BSLCO) single crystals with z of up to 2.2%. Besides the typical Zn-doping effects on the in-plane resistivity and the Hall angle, we demonstrate that the nature of the low-temperature normal state in the Zn-doped samples is significantly altered from that in the pristine samples under high magnetic fields. In particular, we observe nearly-isotropic negative magnetoresistance as well as an increase in the Hall coefficient at very low temperatures in non-superconducting Zn-doped samples, which we propose to be caused by the Kondo scattering from the local moments induced by Zn impurities.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, final version (one reference added), 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

Diagnosis and Location of Pinhole Defects in Tunnel Junctions using only Electrical Measurements

In the development of the first generation of sensors and memory chips based on spin-dependent tunneling through a thin trilayer, it has become clear that pinhole defects can have a deleterious effect on magnetoresistance. However, current diagnostic protocols based on Andreev reflection and the temperature dependence of junction resistance may not be suitable for production quality control. We show that the current density in a tunnel junction in the cross-strip geometry becomes very inhomogeneous in the presence of a single pinhole, yielding a four-terminal resistance that depends on the location of the pinhole in the junction. Taking advantage of this position dependence, we propose a simple protocol of four four-terminal measurements. Solving an inverse problem, we can diagnose the presence of a pinhole and estimate its position and resistance.Comment: 9 pages, eplain TeX, other macro files included; some versions of TeX epsf may have trouble with figures, in which case try the Postscript or PDF generated automatically by the Archiv

Room-temperature detection of spin accumulation in silicon across Schottky tunnel barriers using a MOSFET structure

Using a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) structure with a high-quality CoFe/n^+Si contact, we systematically study spin injection and spin accumulation in a nondegenerated Si channel with a doping density of ~ 4.5*10^15cm^-3 at room temperature. By applying the gate voltage (V_G) to the channel, we obtain sufficient bias currents (I_Bias) for creating spin accumulation in the channel and observe clear spin-accumulation signals even at room temperature. Whereas the magnitude of the spin signals is enhanced by increasing I_Bias, it is reduced by increasing V_G interestingly. These features can be understood within the framework of the conventional spin diffusion model. As a result, a room-temperature spin injection technique for the nondegenerated Si channel without using insulating tunnel barriers is established, which indicates a technological progress for Si-based spintronic applications with gate electrodes.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Coherence and superconductivity in coupled one-dimensional chains: a case study of YBa2_{2}Cu3_{3}Oy_{y}

We report the infrared (IR) response of Cu-O chains in the high-$T_{c}$ superconductor YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{y}$ over the doping range spanning $y=6.28-6.75$. We find evidence for a power law scaling at mid-IR frequencies consistent with predictions for Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, thus supporting the notion of one-dimensional transport in the chains. We analyze the role of coupling to the CuO$_{2}$ planes in establishing metallicity and superconductivity in disordered chain fragments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure