Abstract
The complex interplay between superconducting and magnetic phases remains poorly understood. Here, we report on the phase separation of doped holes into separate magnetic and superconducting regions in superoxygenated La2−xSrxCuO4+y, with various Sr contents. Irrespective of Sr-doping, excess oxygen raises the superconducting onset to 40 K with a coexisting magnetic spin-density wave that also orders near 40 K in each of our samples. The magnetic region is closely related to the anomalous, 1/8-hole-doped magnetic versions of La2CuO4, whereas the superconducting region is optimally doped. The two phases are probably the only truly stable ground states in this region of the phase diagram. This simple two-component system is a candidate for electronic phase separation in cuprate superconductors, and a key to understanding seemingly conflicting experimental observations.
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Acknowledgements
We thank H. Ronnow, S. Kivelson, and E. Dagotto for the thoughtful discussions and K. Conder for carrying out TGA measurements on our samples. The research at the University of Connecticut was supported by the US-DOE through contract DE-FG02-00ER45801, research at Brookhaven was supported by US-DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science, under contract DE-AC02-98CH10886, and research at MIT (F.-C.C.) was partially supported by the MRSEC Program of the NSF under award number DMR 02-13282. CCMS-NTU was partially supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan under contract NSC-95-2112-M-002-026. L.U. is supported by the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences under the Framework Programme on Superconductivity. The muon work was carried out at the Swiss Muon Source, PSI, Villigen, Switzerland.
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Mohottala, H., Wells, B., Budnick, J. et al. Phase separation in superoxygenated La2-xSrxCuO4+y. Nature Mater 5, 377–382 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1633
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1633
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