Low energy excitations in superconducting La1.86Sr0.14CuO4

Direct relation between the low-energy spin excitations and superconductivity of overdoped high-Tc superconductors

The dynamic spin susceptibility, chi(")(omega), has been measured over the energy range of 2</=omega</=10 meV for overdoped La2-xSrxCuO4. Incommensurate (IC) spin excitations are observed at 8 K for all superconducting samples for 0.25</=x</=0.28 with chi(") peaking at approximately 6 meV. The IC peaks at 6 meV become smaller in intensity with increasing x and, finally, become unobservable for a sample with x=0.30 which has no bulk superconductivity. The maximum chi(") decreases linearly with T(c)(onset) in the overdoped region, implying a direct cooperative relation between the spin fluctuations and the superconductivity.

Novel in-gap spin state in Zn-doped La1.85Sr0.15CuO4

Low-energy spin excitations of La(1.85)Sr(0.15)Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 were studied by neutron scattering. In y=0.004, the incommensurate magnetic peaks show a well-defined "spin gap" below T(c). The magnetic signals at omega=3 meV decrease below T(c)=27 K for y=0.008, also suggesting the gap opening. At lower temperatures, however, the signal increases again, implying a novel in-gap spin state. In y=0.017, the spin gap vanishes and elastic magnetic peaks appear. These results clarify that doped Zn impurities induce the novel in-gap state, which becomes larger and more static with increasing Zn.

Commensurate dynamic magnetic correlations in La2Cu0.9Li0.1O4

When sufficient numbers of holes are introduced into the two-dimensional CuO2 square lattice, dynamic magnetic correlations become incommensurate with underlying lattice in all previously investigated La(2-x)A(x)Cu(1-z)B(z)O(4+y) ( A = Sr or Nd, B = Zn) including high T(c) superconductors and insulators, and in bilayered superconducting YBa2Cu3O6.6 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. Magnetic correlations also become incommensurate in structurally related La2NiO4 when doped with Sr or O. We report an exception to this so-far well-established experimental "rule" in La(2)Cu(1-z)Li(z)O4 in which magnetic correlations remain commensurate.

Nearly singular magnetic fluctuations in the normal state of a high-Tc cuprate superconductor

Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering was used to measure the wave vector- and frequency-dependent magnetic fluctuations in the normal state (from the superconducting transition temperature, Tc = 35 kelvin, up to 350 kelvin) of single crystals of La1.86Sr0.14CuO4. The peaks that dominate the fluctuations have amplitudes that decrease as T-2 and widths that increase in proportion to the thermal energy, kBT (where kB is Boltzmann's constant), and energy transfer added in quadrature. The nearly singular fluctuations are consistent with a nearby quantum critical point.