No Arabic abstract
Oxygen $K$-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements were conducted on T*-type La$_{1-x/2}$Eu$_{1-x/2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LESCO) to estimate the hole density ($n_{rm h}$) and investigate the oxidation annealing effect on $n_{rm h}$. A drastic increase in $n_{rm h}$ due to annealing was found. The increase in $n_{rm h}$ cannot be explained solely by the oxygen gain due to annealing, suggesting that delocalized holes are introduced into the CuO$_2$ plane. A phase diagram of LESCO was redrawn against $n_{rm h}$.
Despite its unique structural features, the magnetism of single-layered cuprate with five oxygen coordination ($T$*-type structure) has not been investigated thus far. Here, we report the results of muon spin relaxation and magnetic susceptibility measurements to elucidate the magnetism of $T$*-type La$_{1-x/2}$Eu$_{1-x/2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LESCO) via magnetic Fe- and non-magnetic Zn-substitution. We clarified the inducement of the spin-glass (SG)-like magnetically ordered state in La$_{1-x/2}$Eu$_{1-x/2}$Sr$_x$Cu$_y$Fe$_{1-y}$O$_4$ with $x = 0.24 + y$, and the non-magnetic state in La$_{1-x/2}$Eu$_{1-x/2}$Sr$_x$Cu$_y$Zn$_{1-y}$O$_4$ with $x$ = 0.24 after the suppression of superconductivity for $y$ $geq$ 0.025. The SG state lies below $sim$7 K in a wide Sr concentration range between 0.19 and 0.34 in 5$%$ Fe-substituted LESCO. The short-range SG state is consistent with that originating from the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction in a metallic state. Thus, the results provide the first evidence for Fermi liquid (FL) state in the pristine $T$*-type LESCO. Taking into account the results of an oxygen $K$-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurement $[$J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 89, 075002 (2020)$]$ reporting the actual hole concentrations in LESCO, our results demonstrate the existence of the FL state in a lower hole-concentration region, compared to that in $T$-type La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$. The emergence of the FL state in a lower hole-concentration region is possibly associated with a smaller charge transfer gap energy in the parent material with five oxygen coordination.
We investigated the magnetism and superconductivity in as-sintered (AS) and oxidation annealed (OA) T*-type La$_{1-x/2}$Eu$_{1-x/2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LESCO) with 0.14 $leq x leq$ 0.28 by the first comprehensive muon spin rotation/relaxation ($mu$SR), magnetic susceptibility, and electrical resistivity measurements. In OA superconducting samples, no evidence of magnetic order was observed, whereas AS semiconducting samples exhibited evidence of a disordered magnetic state in the measured temperature range between $sim$4 K and $sim$8 K. Therefore, the ground state in LESCO drastically varies with oxidation annealing and the magnetic phase competitively exists with the superconducting (SC) phase. The magnetic phase in the AS LESCO is quite robust against Sr doping, while the SC phase degrades with increasing $x$. A monotonous decrease of the SC transition temperature from 24.5 K in $x$ = 0.14 to 9.0 K in $x$ = 0.28 suggests the disappearance of the SC phase at $x$ $sim$ 0.34. Furthermore, we clarified the simultaneous development of (quasi) static magnetism and the electrical resistivity at a low temperature in AS samples, suggesting the inducement of magnetism by the suppression of carrier mobility. The variation in magnetism due to annealing is discussed from a viewpoint of structural defects, which was previously reported from neutron diffraction measurements.
We present results of inelastic light scattering experiments on single-crystalline La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$ in the doping range $0.00 le x=p le 0.30$ and Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+delta}$ at $p=0.20$ and $p=0.24$. The main emphasis is placed on the response of electronic excitations in the antiferromagnetic phase, in the pseudogap range, in the superconducting state, and in the essentially normal metallic state at $x ge 0.26$, where no superconductivity could be observed. In most of the cases we compare B$_{1g}$ and B$_{2g}$ spectra which project out electronic properties close to $(pi,0)$ and $(pi/2, pi/2)$, respectively. In the channel of electron-hole excitations we find universal behavior in B$_{2g}$ symmetry as long as the material exhibits superconductivity at low temperature. In contrast, there is a strong doping dependence in B$_{1g}$ symmetry: (i) In the doping range $0.20 le p le 0.25$ we observe rapid changes of shape and temperature dependence of the spectra. (ii) In La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$ new structures appear for $x < 0.13$ which are superposed on the electron-hole continuum. The temperature dependence as well as model calculations support an interpretation in terms of charge-ordering fluctuations. For $x le 0.05$ the response from fluctuations disappears at B$_{1g}$ and appears at B$_{2g}$ symmetry in full agreement with the orientation change of stripes found by neutron scattering. While, with a grain of salt, the particle-hole continuum is universal for all cuprates the response from fluctuating charge order in the range $0.05 le p < 0.16$ is so far found only in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$. We conclude that La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$ is close to static charge order and, for this reason, may have a suppressed $T_c$.
Interlayer transport in high-$T_C$ cuprates is mediated by superconducting tunneling across the CuO$_2$ planes. For this reason, the terahertz frequency optical response is dominated by one or more Josephson plasma resonances and becomes highly nonlinear at fields for which the tunneling supercurrents approach their critical value, $I_C$. These large terahertz nonlinearities are in fact a hallmark of superconducting transport. Surprisingly, however, they have been documented in La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_4$ also above $T_C$ for doping values near $x=1/8$, and interpreted as an indication of superfluidity in the stripe phase. Here, Electric Field Induced Second Harmonic (EFISH) is used to study the dynamics of time-dependent interlayer voltages when La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_4$ is driven with large-amplitude terahertz pulses, in search of other characteristic signatures of Josephson tunnelling in the normal state. We show that this method is sensitive to the voltage anomalies associated with 2$pi$ Josephson phase slips, which near $x=1/8$ are observed both below and above $T_C$. These results document a new regime of nonlinear transport that shares features of sliding charge-density-waves and superconducting phase dynamics.
The specific heat $C$ of the cuprate superconductors La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ and Bi$_{2+y}$Sr$_{2-x-y}$La$_x$CuO$_{6+delta}$ was measured at low temperature (down to $0.5~{rm K}$), for dopings $p$ close to $p^star$, the critical doping for the onset of the pseudogap phase. A magnetic field up to $35~{rm T}$ was applied to suppress superconductivity, giving direct access to the normal state at low temperature, and enabling a determination of $C_e$, the electronic contribution to the normal-state specific heat, at $T to 0$. In La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ at $x=p = 0.22$, $0.24$ and $0.25$, $C_e / T = 15-16~{rm mJmol}^{-1}{rm K}^{-2}$ at $T = 2~{rm K}$, values that are twice as large as those measured at higher doping ($p > 0.3$) and lower doping ($p < 0.15$). This confirms the presence of a broad peak in the doping dependence of $C_e$ at $p^starsimeq 0.19$, as previously reported for samples in which superconductivity was destroyed by Zn impurities. Moreover, at those three dopings, we find a logarithmic growth as $T to 0$, such that $C_e / T sim {rm B}ln(T_0/T)$. The peak vs $p$ and the logarithmic dependence vs $T$ are the two typical thermodynamic signatures of quantum criticality. In the very different cuprate Bi$_{2+y}$Sr$_{2-x-y}$La$_x$CuO$_{6+delta}$, we again find that $C_e / T sim {rm B}ln(T_0/T$) at $p simeq p^star$, strong evidence that this $ln(1/T)$ dependence - first discovered in the cuprates La$_{1.8-x}$Eu$_{0.2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ and La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ - is a universal property of the pseudogap critical point. All four materials display similar values of the $rm B$ coefficient, indicating that they all belong to the same universality class.