37 research outputs found
Strain accommodation through facet matching in LaSrCuO/NdCeCuO ramp-edge junctions
Scanning nano-focused X-ray diffraction (nXRD) and high-angle annular
dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) are used to
investigate the crystal structure of ramp-edge junctions between
superconducting electron-doped NdCeCuO
and superconducting hole-doped LaSrCuO
thin films, the latter being the top layer. On the ramp, a new growth mode of
LaSrCuO with a 3.3 degree tilt of the
c-axis is found. We explain the tilt by developing a strain accommodation model
that relies on facet matching, dictated by the ramp angle, indicating that a
coherent domain boundary is formed at the interface. The possible implications
of this growth mode for the creation of artificial domains in morphotropic
materials are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures & 3 pages supplemental information with 2 figures.
Copyright (2015) American Institute of Physics. This article may be
downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of
the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article
appeared in APL Mat. 3, 086101 (2015) and may be found at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.492779
Effect of high oxygen pressure annealing on superconducting Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 thin films by pulsed laser deposition from Cu-enriched targets
We show that the quality of Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 films grown by pulsed laser
deposition can be enhanced by using a non-stoichiometric target with extra
copper added to suppress the formation of a parasitic (Nd, Ce)2O3 phase. The
properties of these films are less dependent on the exact annealing procedure
after deposition as compared to films grown from a stoichiometric target. Film
growth can be followed by a 1 bar oxygen annealing, after an initial vacuum
annealing, while retaining the superconducting properties and quality. This
enables the integration of electron-doped cuprates with their hole-doped
counterparts on a single chip, to create, for example, superconducting
pn-junctions.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article
accepted for publication in Superconductor Science and Technology. The
publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of
the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is
available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-2048/27/4/04401
Spin and charge dynamics in [TbPc] and [DyPc] single molecule magnets
Magnetization, AC susceptibility and SR measurements have been performed
in neutral phthalocyaninato lanthanide ([LnPc) single molecule magnets
in order to determine the low-energy levels structure and to compare the
low-frequency spin excitations probed by means of macroscopic techniques, such
as AC susceptibility, with the ones explored by means of techniques of
microscopic character, such as SR. Both techniques show a high temperature
thermally activated regime for the spin dynamics and a low temperature
tunneling one. While in the activated regime the correlation times for the spin
fluctuations estimated by AC susceptibility and SR basically agree, clear
discrepancies are found in the tunneling regime. In particular, SR probes
a faster dynamics with respect to AC susceptibility. It is argued that the
tunneling dynamics probed by SR involves fluctuations which do not yield a
net change in the macroscopic magnetization probed by AC susceptibiliy. Finally
resistivity measurements in [TbPc crystals show a high temperature
nearly metallic behaviour and a low temperature activated behaviour.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure
Singling out the effect of quenched disorder in the phase diagram of cuprates
We investigate the specific influence of structural disorder on the
suppression of antiferromagnetic order and on the emergence of cuprate
superconductivity. We single out pure disorder, by focusing on a series of
YEuBaCuO samples at fixed oxygen content
, in the range . The gradual Y/Eu isovalent substitution
smoothly drives the system through the Mott-insulator to superconductor
transition from a full antiferromagnet with N\'eel transition K at
to a bulk superconductor with superconducting critical temperature
K at , YBaCuO. The electronic properties are
finely tuned by gradual lattice deformations induced by the different cationic
radii of the two lanthanides, inducing a continuous change of the basal Cu(1)-O
chain length, as well as a controlled amount of disorder in the active
Cu(2)O bilayers. We check that internal charge transfer from the basal to
the active plane is entirely responsible for the doping of the latter and we
show that superconductivity emerges with orthorhombicity. By comparing
transition temperatures with those of the isoelectronic clean system we
deterime the influence of pure structural disorder connected with the Y/Eu
alloy.Comment: 10 pages 11 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter, Special Issue in memory of Prof. Sandro Massid
Direct observation of nanoscale interface phase in the superconducting chalcogenide KFeSe with intrinsic phase separation
We have used scanning micro x-ray diffraction to characterize different
phases in superconducting KFeSe as a function of temperature,
unveiling the thermal evolution across the superconducting transition
temperature (T32 K), phase separation temperature (T520 K)
and iron-vacancy order temperature (T580 K). In addition to the
iron-vacancy ordered tetragonal magnetic phase and orthorhombic metallic
minority filamentary phase, we have found a clear evidence of the interface
phase with tetragonal symmetry. The metallic phase is surrounded by this
interface phase below 300 K, and is embedded in the insulating texture.
The spatial distribution of coexisting phases as a function of temperature
provides a clear evidence of the formation of protected metallic percolative
paths in the majority texture with large magnetic moment, required for the
electronic coherence for the superconductivity. Furthermore, a clear
reorganization of iron-vacancy order around the T and T is found
with the interface phase being mostly associated with a different iron-vacancy
configuration, that may be important for protecting the percolative
superconductivity in KFeSe.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
On the nature of ionic liquid gating of La2-xSrxCuO4
Quantum Matter and Optic
Critical behavior at the dynamic Mott transition
RevTex4, 9 pages, 5 figuresRevTex4, 9 pages, 5 figuresWe investigate magnetoresistance of a square array of superconducting islands placed on a normal metal, which offers a unique tunable laboratory for realizing and exploring quantum many-body systems and their dynamics. A vortex Mott insulator where magnetic field-induced vortices are frozen in the dimples of the egg crate potential by their strong repulsion interaction is discovered. We find an insulator-to-metal transition driven by the applied electric current and determine critical exponents that exhibit striking similarity with the common thermodynamic liquid-gas transition. A simple and straightforward quantum mechanical picture is proposed that describes both tunneling dynamics in the deep insulating state and the observed scaling behavior in the vicinity of the critical point. Our findings offer a comprehensive description of dynamic Mott critical behavior and establish a deep connection between equilibrium and nonequilibrium phase transitions
Scaling universality at the dynamic vortex Mott transition
The cleanest way to observe a dynamic Mott insulator-to-metal transition (DMT) without the interference from disorder and other effects inherent to electronic and atomic systems, is to employ the vortex Mott states formed by superconducting vortices in a regular array of pinning sites. Here, we report the critical behavior of the vortex system as it crosses the DMT line, driven by either current or temperature. We find universal scaling with respect to both, expressed by the same scaling function and characterized by a single critical exponent coinciding with the exponent for the thermodynamic Mott transition. We develop a theory for the DMT based on the parity reflection-time reversal (PT) symmetry breaking formalism and find that the nonequilibrium-induced Mott transition has the same critical behavior as the thermal Mott transition. Our findings demonstrate the existence of physical systems in which the effect of a nonequilibrium drive is to generate an effective temperature and hence the transition belonging in the thermal universality class
High-T_c Superconductivity with T_c = 52 K under Antiferromagnetic Order in Five-layered Cuprate Ba_2Ca_4Cu_5O_10(F,O)_2 with T_N = 175 K: 19F- and Cu-NMR Studies
We report on the observation of high-T_c superconductivity (SC) emerging with
the background of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) order in the five-layered cuprate
Ba_2Ca_4Cu_5O_10(F,O)_2 through 19F-NMR and zero-field Cu-NMR studies. The
measurements of spectrum and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates 19(1/T_1) of
19F-NMR give convincing evidence for the AFM order taking place below T_N = 175
K and for the onset of SC below T_c = 52 K, hence both coexisting. The
zero-field Cu-NMR study has revealed that AFM moments at Cu sites are 0.14 mu_B
at outer CuO_2 layers and 0.20 mu_B at inner ones. We remark that an intimate
coupling exists between the AFM state and the SC order parameter below T_c = 52
K; the spin alignment in the AFM state is presumably changed in the SC-AFM
mixed state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Journal of the Physical
Society of Japan, Vol.80, No.
High-Tc Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism in Multilayered Copper Oxides - A New Paradigm of Superconducting Mechanism -
High-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) in copper oxides emerges on a
layered CuO2 plane when an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator is doped with
mobile hole carriers. We review extensive studies of multilayered copper oxides
by site-selective nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which have uncovered the
intrinsic phase diagram of antiferromagnetism (AFM) and HTSC for a
disorder-free CuO2 plane with hole carriers. We present our experimental
findings such as the existence of the AFM metallic state in doped Mott
insulators, the uniformly mixed phase of AFM and HTSC, and the emergence of
d-wave SC with a maximum Tc just outside a critical carrier density, at which
the AFM moment on a CuO2 plane disappears. These results can be accounted for
by the Mott physics based on the t-J model. The superexchange interaction J_in
among spins plays a vital role as a glue for Cooper pairs or mobile
spin-singlet pairs, in contrast to the phonon-mediated attractive interaction
among electrons established in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. We
remark that the attractive interaction for raising the of HTSC up to
temperatures as high as 160 K is the large J_in (~0.12 eV), which binds
electrons of opposite spins to be on neighboring sites, and that there are no
bosonic glues. It is the Coulomb repulsive interaction U(> 6 eV) among Cu-3d
electrons that plays a central role in the physics behind high-Tc phenomena. A
new paradigm of the SC mechanism opens to strongly correlated electron matter.Comment: 20 pages, 25 figures, Special topics "Recent Developments in
Superconductivity" in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., Published December 26, 201