High Field determination of superconducting fluctuations in high-Tc cuprates

Large pulsed magnetic fields up to 60 Tesla are used to suppress the contribution of superconducting fluctuations (SCF) to the ab-plane conductivity above Tc in a series of YBa2Cu3O6+x single crystals. The fluctuation conductivity is found to vanish nearly exponentially with temperature, allowing us to determine precisely the field H'c(T) and the temperature T'c above which the SCFs are fully suppressed. T'c is always found much smaller than the pseudogap temperature. A careful investigation near optimal doping shows that T'c is higher than the pseudogap T*, which indicates that the pseudogap cannot be assigned to preformed pairs. For nearly optimally doped samples, the fluctuation conductivity can be accounted for by gaussian fluctuations following the Ginzburg-Landau scheme. A phase fluctuation contribution might be invoked for the most underdoped samples in a T range which increases when controlled disorder is introduced by electron irradiation. Quantitative analysis of the fluctuating magnetoconductance allows us to determine the critical field Hc2(0) which is found to be quite similar to H'c(0) and to increase with hole doping. Studies of the incidence of disorder on both T'c and T* enable us to propose a three dimensional phase diagram including a disorder axis, which allows to explain most observations done in other cuprate families.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, invited paper at the M2SHTSC Conference Washington (2012

89Y NMR Probe of Zn Induced Local Magnetism in YBa2(Cu(1-y)Zn(y))3O(6+x)

We present detailed data and analysis of the effects of Zn substitution on the planar Cu site in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ (YBCO$_{6+x}$) as evidenced from our $^{89}$Y NMR measurements on oriented powders. For $x<<1$ we find additional NMR lines which are associated with the Zn substitution. From our data on the intensities and temperature dependence of the shift, width, and spin-lattice relaxation rate of these resonances, we conclude that the spinless Zn 3$d$$^{10}$ state induces local moments on the near-neighbour ($$) Cu atoms. Additionally, we conjecture that the local moments actually extend to the farther Cu atoms with the magnetization alternating in sign at subsequent $nn$ sites. We show that this analysis is compatible with ESR data taken on dilute Gd doped (on the Y site) and on neutron scattering data reported recently on Zn substituted YBCO$_{6 + x}$. For optimally doped compounds $^{89}$Y $nn$ resonances are not detected, but a large $T$% -dependent contribution to the $^{89}$Y NMR linewidth is evidenced and is also attributed to the occurence of a weak induced local moment near the Zn. These results are compatible with macroscopic magnetic measurements performed on YBCO$_{6 + x}$ samples prepared specifically in order to minimize the content of impurity phases. We find significant differences between the present results on the underdoped YBCO$_{6 + x}$ samples and $$Al NMR data taken on Al$^{3+}$ substituted on the Cu site in optimally doped La$_2$CuO$_4$. Further experimental work is needed to clarify the detailed evolution of the impurity induced magnetism with hole content in the cuprates.Comment: To be published in EPJB 15 pages of text and figures in eps forma

Superconducting Fluctuations, Pseudogap and Phase Diagram in Cuprates

We report transport measurements using pulsed magnetic fields to suppress the superconducting fluctuations (SCF) conductivity in a series of YBa_2Cu_3O_(6+x) samples. These experiments allow us altogether to measure the temperature T'c at which SCF disappear, and the pseudogap temperature T*. While the latter are consistent with previous determinations of T*, we find that T'c is slightly larger than similar data taken by Nernst measurements. A careful investigation near optimal doping shows that T* becomes smaller than T'c, which is an unambiguous evidence that the pseudogap cannot be assigned to preformed pairs. Studies of the incidence of disorder on both T'c and T* allow us to propose a phase diagram including disorder which explains most observations done in other cuprate families, and to discuss the available knowledge on the pseudogap line in the phase diagram.Comment: New version with minor correction

Complex magnetic differentiation of cobalts in Nax_{x}CoO2_{2} with 22K N\'eel temperature

Single crystals of sodium cobaltates Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}$ with $x \approx 0.8$ were grown by the floating zone technique. Using electrochemical Na de-intercalation method we reduced the sodium content in the as-grown crystals down to pure phase with 22 K N\'eel temperature and $x \approx 0.77$. The $^{59}$Co NMR study in the paramagnetic state of the $T_{N}=22$ K phase permitted us to evidence that at least 6 Co sites are differentiated. They could be separated by their magnetic behaviour into three types: a single site with cobalt close to non-magnetic Co$^{3+}$, two sites with the most magnetic cobalts in the system, and the remaining three sites displaying an intermediate behaviour. This unusual magnetic differentiation calls for more detailed NMR experiments on our well characterized samples.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to JETP Let

59Co NMR study of the Co states in superconducting and anhydrous cobaltates

$^{59}$Co NMR spectra in oriented powders of Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_{2}$ and in its hydrated superconducting phase (HSC) Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_{2}$,1.3H$_{2}$O reveal a single electronic Co state with identical $T$ independent NMR shift tensor. These phases differ markedly from Na$_{0.7}$CoO$_{2}$, in which we resolve 3 types of Co sites. The large T variation of their spin susceptibilities $\chi ^{s}$ and the anisotropy of the orbital susceptibility $\chi ^{orb}$ allow us to conclude that charge disproportionation occurs, in a non magnetic Co$^{3+}$ and two magnetic sites with about 0.3 and 0.7 holes in the $t_{2g}$ multiplet. The data are consistent with those for the single Co site in the anhydrous and HSC phase assuming the expected Co$^{3.65+}$ charge.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

High Field Studies of Superconducting Fluctuations in High-T_c Cuprates: Evidence for a Small Gap distinct from the Large Pseudogap

We have used pulsed magnetic fields up to 60Tesla to suppress the contribution of superconducting fluctuations(SCF)to the conductivity above Tc in a series of YBa2Cu3O6+x from the deep pseudogapped state to slight overdoping. Accurate determinations of the SCF conductivity versus temperature and magnetic field have been achieved. Their joint quantitative analyses with respect to Nernst data allow us to establish that thermal fluctuations following the Ginzburg-Landau(GL) scheme are dominant for nearly optimally doped samples. The deduced coherence length xi(T) is in perfect agreement with a gaussian (Aslamazov-Larkin) contribution for 1.01Tc<T<1.2Tc. A phase fluctuation contribution might be invoked for the most underdoped samples in a T range which increases when controlled disorder is introduced by electron irradiation. For all dopings we evidence that the fluctuations are highly damped when increasing T or H. The data permits us to define a field Hc^prime and a temperature Tc^prime above which the SCF are fully suppressed. The analysis of the fluctuation magnetoconductance in the GL approach allows us to determine the critical field Hc2(0). The actual values of Hc^prime(0) and Hc2(0) are found quite similar and both increase with hole doping. These depairing fields, which are directly connected to the magnitude of the SC gap, do therefore follow the Tc variation which is at odds with the sharp decrease of the pseudogap T* with increasing hole doping. This is on line with our previous evidence that T* is not the onset of pairing. We finally propose a three dimensional phase diagram including a disorder axis, which allows to explain most peculiar observations done so far on the diverse cuprate families.Comment: revised version, to be published in Physical Review B. Small modifications have been done in paragraphs VI.A and VI