The resistivity and the Hall effect in the copper-oxide high-temperature superconductor YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) are remarkably anisotropic. Using a thin film of YBCO grown on an off-axis cut SrTiO$_3$ substrate allows one to investigate these anisotropic transport properties in a planar and well-defined sample geometry employing a homogeneous current density. In the normal state, the Hall voltage probed parallel to the copper-oxide layers is positive and strongly temperature dependent, whereas the out-of-plane Hall voltage is negative and almost temperature independent. The results confirm previous measurements on single crystals by an entirely different measurement method and demonstrate that vicinal thin films might be also useful for investigations of other layered nanomaterials.
The critical current density of epitaxial YBCO films grown on vicinal SrTiO3 substrates was investigated by electrical transport measurements along and across the steps of the SrTiO3 surface for a range of temperatures of 10 K to 85 K and in applied magnetic fields varying from 0 to 14 T. For vicinal angles of 4 and 8 degrees, we found evidence of enhanced pinning in the longitudinal direction at low magnetic fields for a wide region of temperatures and attribute this phenomenon to anti-phase boundaries in the YBCO film. The transverse Jc data showed a peak in the Jc(H) curve at low magnetic f…
Most measurements of critical current densities in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ thin films to date have been performed on films where the \textit{c}-axis is grown normal to the film surface. With such films, the analysis of the dependence of $j_c$ on the magnetic field angle is complex. The effects of extrinsic contributions to the angular field dependence of $j_c$, such as the measurement geometry and disposition of pinning centres, are convoluted with those intrinsically due to the anisotropy of the material. As a consequence of this, it is difficult to distinguish between proposed FLL structure m…
Field angle dependent critical current, magneto-optical microscopy, and high resolution electron microscopy studies have been performed on YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films grown on mis-cut substrates. High resolution electron microscopy images show that the films studied exhibited clean epitaxial growth with a low density of anti-phase boundaries and stacking faults. Any anti-phase boundaries (APBs) formed near the film substrate interface rapidly healed rather than extending through the thickness of the film. Unlike vicinal films grown on annealed substrates, which contain a high density of anti-phase …
The high $T_{c}$ cuprate superconductors are noted for their anisotropic layered structure, certain of these materials indeed tend toward the limit of a Lawrence-Doniach superconductor. However, YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ has a smaller anisotropy than would be expected from its interlayer spacing. This is due to the cuprate chains in the structure. To investigate the influence of the chain oxygen on transport properties critical current versus applied field angle measurements were performed on fully oxygenated and de-oxygenated YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ thin films and optimally oxygenated Y$_{0.75}$C…
NdFeAs(O,F) thin films having different fluorine contents were grown on 5 deg. or 10 deg. vicinal cut MgO and CaF2 single crystalline substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Structural characterisations by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction confirmed the epitaxial growth of NdFeAs(O,F). The resistivities of the ab-plane and along the c-axis were derived from the resistivity measurements in the longitudinal and transversal directions. The c-axis resistivity was always higher than the ab-plane resistivity, resulting from the anisotropic electronic structure. The resi…
Using an optimized bridge geometry we have been able to make accurate measurements of the properties of YBa2Cu3O7-delta grain boundaries above Tc. The results show a strong dependence of the change of resistance with temperature on grain boundary angle. Analysis of our results in the context of band-bending allows us to estimate the height of the potential barrier present at the grain boundary interface.
Investigations of the resistivity and the Hall effect as a function of electric field and temperature in the normal state and upper part of the superconducting transition of an optimally doped, very thin film of YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ are reported. Using a fast pulsed-current technique allowed to reduce the self-heating of the sample and to reach electric fields up to 1 kV/cm. An intrinsic non-Ohmic behavior of the Hall conductivity above the critical temperature that appears to originate from two different, partially counteracting effects is revealed. The major contribution stems from the…
The normal state resistivity of high temperature superconductors can be probed in the region below Tc by suppressing the superconducting state in high magnetic fields. Here we present the normal state properties of YBa2Cu3Ox thin films in the underdoped regime and the normal state resistance of La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films under epitaxial strain, measured below Tc by applying pulsed fields up to 60 T. A universal rho(T) behaviour is reported. We interpret these data in terms of the recently proposed 1D quantum transport model with the 1D paths corresponding to the charge stripes.
We reveal that the temperature dependence of the basal-plane normal-state electrical resistance of optimally doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ single crystals can be with great accuracy approximated within the framework of the model of s-d electron-phonon scattering. This requires taking into account the fluctuation conductivity whose contribution exponentially increases with decreasing temperature and decreases with an increase of oxygen deficiency. Room-temperature annealing improves the sample and, thus, increases the superconducting transition temperature. The temperature of the 2D-3D crossover…
Our knowledge of the ground state of underdoped hole-doped cuprates has evolved considerably over the last few years. There is now compelling evidence that inside the pseudogap phase, charge order breaks translational symmetry leading to a reconstructed Fermi surface made of small pockets. Quantum oscillations, [Doiron-Leyraud N, et al. (2007) Nature 447:564-568], optical conductivity [Mirzaei SI, et al. (2013) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110:5774-5778] and the validity of Wiedemann-Franz law [Grissonnache G, et al. (2016) Phys. Rev. B 93:064513] point to a Fermi liquid regime at low temperature in…
We report the result of our accurate measurements of the a- and b-axis resistivity, Hall coefficient, and the a-axis thermopower in untwinned YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} single crystals in a wide range of doping. It is found that both the a-axis resistivity and the Hall conductivity show anomalous dependences on the oxygen content y in the "60-K phase" below the pseudogap temperature T^*. The complete data set enables us to narrow down the possible pictures of the 60-K phase, with which we discuss a peculiar role of the pseudogap in the charge transport.
A scan of the superconductor -- nonsuperconductor transformation in single crystals YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x} (x about 0.37) was done in two alternative ways, namely, by applying the magnetic field and by reducing the hole concentration through the oxygen rearrangement. The in-plane normal-state resistivity ρ_{ab} obtained in both cases was quite similar; its temperature dependence can be fitted by logarithmic law in the temperature range of almost two decades. However, a different representation of the σ_{ab}=1/ρ_{ab} by a power law typical for a 3D-material near a metal -- insulator transition is als…
This paper reveals the origin of variation in the magnitude and temperature dependence of the normal state resistivity frequently observed in different YBCO single crystal or thin film samples with the same $T_{c}$. We investigated temperature dependence of resistivity in $YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-δ}$ thin films with 7- $δ= 6.95$ and 6.90, which were subjected to annealing in argon at 400-420 K ($120-140^{o}C$). Before annealing these films exhibited a non-linear $ρ_{ab}(T)$, with a flattening below 230 K, similar to $ρ_{b}(T)$ and $ρ_{ab}(T)$ observed in untwinned and twinned YBCO crystals, respecti…
The normal state of optimally doped cuprates is dominated by the "strange metal" phase that shows a linear temperature ($T$) dependence of the resistivity persisting down to the lowest $T$. For underdoped cuprates this behavior is lost below the pseudogap temperature $T^*$, where Charge Density Waves (CDW) together with other intertwined local orders characterize the ground state. Here we show that the $T$-linear resistivity of highly strained, ultrathin and underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ films is restored when the CDW amplitude, detected by Resonant Inelastic X-ray scattering, is suppresse…
The $c$-axis resistivity measurements in YBa_2Cu_4O_8 from Hussey et al. for magnetic field orientations along the c-axis as well as within the ab-plane are analyzed and interpreted using the scaling theory for static and dynamic classical critical phenomena. We identify a superconductor to normal conductor transition for both field orientations as well as a normal conductor to insulator transition at a critical field H_c||a with dynamical critical exponent z=1, leading to a multicritical point where superconducting, normal conducting and insulating phases coexist.
We report hole and electron doping in La-doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_y$(YBCO) thin films synthesized by pulsed laser deposition technique and subsequent \emph{in-situ} postannealing in oxygen ambient and vaccum. The $n$-type samples show a metallic behavior below the Mott limit and a high carrier density of $\sim2.8$ $\times$ 10$^{21}$ cm$^{-3}$ at room temperature (\emph{T}) at the optimally reduced condition. The in-plane resistivity ($ρ$$_{ab}$) of the $n$-type samples exhibits a quadratic \emph{T} dependence in the moderate-\emph{T} range and shows an anomaly at a relatively higher \emph{T} prob…
We report on the field dependence of the microwave complex resistivity data in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$/BaZrO$_3$ films grown by PLD at various BaZrO$_3$ content. The data, analyzed within a recently developed general framework for the mixed-state microwave response of superconductors, yield the field dependence of the fluxon parameters such as the vortex viscosity and the pinning constant. We find that pinning undergoes a change of regime when the BaZrO$_3$ content in the target increases from 2.5 mol.% to 5 mol.%. Simultaneously, the vortex viscosity becomes an increasing function of the appli…
A flux instability occurs in superconductors at low temperatures, where ee scattering is more rapid than ep, whereby the dissipation significantly elevates the electronic temperature while maintaining a thermal-like distribution function. The reduction in condensate and rise in resistivity produce a non-monotonic current-voltage response. In contrast to the Larkin-Ovchinnikov instability where the vortex shrinks, in this scenario the vortex expands and the quasiparticle population rises. Measurements in YBaCuO agree quantitatively with the distinct predictions of this mechanism.
The confrontation between the superconducting fluctuations and percolation effects as the origin of the in-plane paraconductivity in cuprate superconductors was earlier addressed at a quantitative level in the case of the optimally doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) compound. Using in-plane resistivity data from a high-quality YBCO thin film, we will extend these analyses to high reduced temperatures, in the case of the Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach for the conventional superconducting fluctuations, by considering the total energy cutoff. These data will also be analysed in terms of…
Epitaxial bilayers of the high-temperature-superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO) and the ferromagnetic metal La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO) were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on (110)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates, such that the CuO2 planes of YBCO are perpendicular to the YBCO-LCMO interface. X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering demonstrate complete (110) orientation of both YBCO and LCMO overlayers. The resistivity and magnetization of the bilayer films are highly anisotropic. The critical temperatures for superconductivity and ferromagnetism as well as the saturation magnetization exhibit modest …
We have re-examined the temperature-doping (T-p) phase diagram of YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) to address several issues therein by using the temperature derivative of in-plane resistivity, d\{rho}ab/dT. For p less than about 0.15, a temperature Tf has been defined to mark the onset of an upturn in d\{rho}ab/dT at T>Tc, which, in light of prior studies on another cuprate La2-xSrxCuO4, is attributed to the onset of superconducting fluctuations in normal state. The Tf exhibits a doping dependence similar to Tc, and the interval between Tf and Tc is about 5-30 K across the underdoped regime, showing agreemen…
Measurements of the nonlinear flux-flow resistivity $ρ$ and the critical vortex velocity $\rm v^*_ϕ$ at high voltage bias close to the instability regime predicted by Larkin and Ovchinnikov \cite{LO} are reported along the node and antinode directions of the d-wave order parameter in the \textit{a-b} plane of epitaxial $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ films. In this pinning-free regime, $ρ$ and $\rm v^*_ϕ$ are found to be anisotropic with values in the node direction larger on average by 10% than in the antinode direction. The anisotropy of $ρ$ is almost independent of temperature and field. We attribute th…
For broad oxygen and strontium doping ranges, temperature dependences (T-dependences) of the normal state resistivity ρ(T) of YBa_2Cu_3O_x (YBCO) and La_(2-x)Sr_xCuO_4 (LSCO) are calculated and compared to experiments. Holes transport was taken in the τ-approximation, where τ(T,ε) is due to acoustic phonons. Besides, T-dependence of the chemical potential μ(T) and effective carrier mass m* ~10-100 free electron masses, obtained by negative-U centers modelling the T-dependence of the Hall coefficient, were used to calculate ρ(T). In addition, it is demonstrated that anisotropy of the cuprates d…
We report the measurements of in-plane resistivity, Hall effect, and Nernst effect in Zn doped YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ epitaxial thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. The pseudogap temperature, $T^*$, determined from the temperature dependence of resistivity, does not change significantly with Zn doping. Meanwhile the onset temperature ($T^ν$) of anomalous Nernst signal above $T_{c0}$, which is interpreted as evidence for vortex-like excitations, decreases sharply as the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c0}$ does. A significant decrease in the maximum of vortex Ne…
Point-contacts formed by the high-temperature superconductor $\rm YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ prepared by cryochemical technique, and a noble metal Ag or Cu) are investigated. The maximum value of the energy gap $Δ\simeq 40~meV$ and the ratio $2Δ/kT_c\simeq 12$ are obtained. It is found that along certain crystallographic axes of the superconductor under investigation, the electrical resistivity $\lesssim 10^{-5} Ω\cdot cm$.
We investigate the manifestation of the stripes in the in-plane resistivity anisotropy in untwinned single crystals of La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} (x = 0.02 - 0.04) and YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} (y = 6.35 - 7.0). It is found that both systems show strongly temperature-dependent in-plane anisotropy in the lightly hole-doped region and that the anisotropy in YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} grows with decreasing y below about 6.60 despite the decreasing orthorhombicity, which gives most direct evidence that electrons self-organize into a macroscopically anisotropic state. The transport is found to be easier along the dire…
Nematicity has emerged as a key feature of cuprate superconductors, but its link to other fundamental properties such as superconductivity, charge order and the pseudogap remains unclear. Here we use measurements of transport anisotropy in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_y$ to distinguish two types of nematicity. The first is associated with short-range charge-density-wave modulations in a doping region near $p = 0.12$. It is detected in the Nernst coefficient, but not in the resistivity. The second type prevails at lower doping, where there are spin modulations but no charge modulations. In this case, the on…
We probe the short-range pinning properties with the application of microwave currents at very high driving frequencies (47.7 GHz) on YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ films with and without sub-micrometer BaZrO$_3$ inclusions. We explore the temperature and field ranges 60 K$<T<T_c$ and 0$<μ_0H<$0.8 T, with the field applied along the c-axis. The magnetic field induces a much smaller increase of the microwave resistivity, $Δρ_1(H)+\mathrm{i}Δρ_2(H)$, in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$/BaZrO$_3$ with respect to pure YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$. $Δρ_1(H)$ is slightly superlinear in pure YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ (suggesti…
The in-plane normal-state resistivity of Zn-doped YBa2Cu3O7-d and heavily underdoped pure YBCO single crystals is measured down to low temperatures under magnetic fields up to 18 T. We found that the temperature dependence of the normal-state rho_ab does not obey log(1/T) and tends not to diverge in the low temperature limit. The result suggests that the ``ground state'' of the normal state of YBCO is metallic.
We report resistivity measurements in underdoped YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6.6} $and overdoped Tl$_{2}$Ba$_{2}$CuO$_{6+x}$ single crystals in which the concentration of defects in the CuO$_{2}$ planes is controlled by electron irradiation. Low $T$ upturns of the resistivity are observed in both cases for large defect content. In the Tl compound the decrease of conductivity scales as expected from weak localization theory. On the contrary in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6.6}$ the much larger low T contribution to the resistivity is proportional to the defect content and might then be associated to a Kondo l…
The Hall resistance was measured by the van der Pauw method on $YBa_2Cu_3O_x$ samples in magnetic fields up to 5 T. In region from 0 to 0.2 T the part of the resistance due to transversal electric field, which is even in magnetic field has been observed just below the critical temperature. This part is gradually suppressed in higher field. Only the Hall resistance (due to odd transversal voltage) has been observed in magnetic field 5 T. The Hall resistance has a typical temperature dependence with negative minimum below the critical temperature. The anisotropy of the Hall resistivity has been …
To probe the quenching mechanisms under high current densities, current-voltage curves have been measured in YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin film microbridges with widths lower than the thermal diffusion length. This condition was obtained by using microbridge widths under 100 micrometers and stepped ramps of one millisecond step duration. Whereas the flux-flow resistivity is found to be microbridge-width independent, strong width dependence of the quenching current density is observed. These results provide a direct experimental demonstration that for high current densities varying in the millisecond ra…
Measurements of the DC resistivity of under-doped cuprate superconductors have revealed a metal--insulator transition at low temperatures when superconductivity is suppressed by a very large magnetic field, with the resistivity growing logarithmically in the low temperature limit. This insulating behaviour has been associated not only with the large magnetic fields, but also with the under-doped composition and intrinsic sample inhomogeneity, and it is important to establish whether these factors are essential to it. Here we report high resolution microwave measurements of the flux-flow resist…
We present a detailed study of the electrical transport properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin film. The irreversibility fields (μ_0 H_irr), upper critical fields (μ_0 H_C2), penetration depths (λ) and coherence lengths (ξ ) of the YBa2Cu3O7-δ materials are deduced from the resistivity curves. Itis observed that μ_0 H_irr, μ_0 H_C2 and ΔTc of the film strongly depend on the direction and strength of the field. The coherence length ξ (0) and penetration depth λ (0) values at T = 0 K has been calculated from the irreversibility fields (μ_0 H_irr) and upper critical fields (μ_0 H_C2) respectively. Based …
We report magnetoresistivity measurements on strongly underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_x (x=6.25, 6.36) single crystals in applied magnetic fields H || c-axis. We identify two different contributions to both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistivities. The first contribution has the same sign as the temperature coefficient of the resistivity \partial ln(ρ_i)/\partial T (i={c,ab}). This contribution reflects the incoherent nature of the out-of-plane transport. The second contribution is positive, quadratic in field, with an onset temperature that correlates to the antiferromagnetic ordering.
The in-plane normal-state resistivity of Zn-doped YBa2Cu3O7-d single crystals is measured down to low temperatures by suppressing superconductivity with magnetic fields up to 18 T. Substitution of Cu with Zn in the CuO2 planes is found to induce carrier localization at low temperatures in "clean" samples with kF l > 5, where the mean free path l is larger than the electron wave length and thus localization is not normally expected. The destruction of the local antiferromagnetic correlation among Cu spins by Zn is discussed to be the possible origin of this unusual charge localization.
Measurements of the Hall effect and the resistivity in twinned YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin films in magnetic fields B oriented parallel to the crystallographic c-axis and to the twin boundaries reveal a double sign reversal of the Hall coefficient for B below 1 T. In high transport current densities, or with B tilted off the twin boundaries by 5 degrees, the second sign reversal vanishes. The power-law scaling of the Hall conductivity to the longitudinal conductivity in the mixed state is strongly modified in the regime of the second sign reversal. Our observations are interpreted as strong, disorder…
Normal state resistivity and Hall effect are shown to be successfully modeled by a two-band model of holes and electrons that is applied self-consistently to (i) DC transport data reported for eight bulk-crystal and six oriented-film specimens of YBa2Cu3O7-δ, and (ii) far-infrared Hall angle data reported for YBa2Cu3O7-δ and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. The electron band exhibits extremely strong scattering; the extrapolated DC residual resistivity of the electronic component is shown to be consistent with the previously observed excess thermal conductivity and excess electrodynamic conductivity at low te…
Superconductivity of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ single crystals was investigated in small magnetic fields. In magnetic measurements the superconducting transition for $\textbf{H} \| c$ appears 0.4 K higher than for $\textbf{H} \bot c$. In this temperature range superconductivity is two-dimensional and the total thickness of superconducting layers is about 0.83 of the sample thickness, which is a consequence of the occurrence of the quasi-insulating plane in the unit cell of the crystal structure. Resistivity in the \textit{ab}-plane and along the \textit{c}-axis was measured simultaneously. In the…
With molecular beam epitaxy and topotactic chemical reaction, we prepared NdFeAs(O,H) epitaxial thin films with various hydrogen concentrations on 5° vicinal cut MgO substrates. By measuring the resistivities along the longitudinal and transversal directions, the ab plane and the c axis resistivities (\{rho}_ab and \{rho}_c) were obtained. The resistivity anisotropy γ_\{rho}=\{rho}_c \ \{rho}_ab of NdFeAs(O,H) with various hydrogen concentrations was compared with that of NdFeAs(O,F). At the H concentrations which led to superconducting transition temperatures Tc over 40 K, γ_\r{ho} recorded ~…
The temperature dependences of g factors of underdoped YBa2Cu3O7-x (Tc approximates 86.5K) indicate that the pseudogap onset temperature T*( approximates 190 K) coincides with the phase boundary established by resistivity, Nernst effect, neutron diffraction and ultrasound measurements in YBCO phase diagram. The obtained empirical relationship between g factors and pseudogap is appropriate for the entire charactering temperature range of Ortho-III YBCO. The EPR signals are ascribed to the localized Cu2+(1) sites based on the quantitative calculations of the g factors by involving the local stru…
We present local optical measurements of thermal diffusivity in the $ab$ plane of underdoped YBCO crystals. We find that the diffusivity anisotropy is comparable to reported values of the electrical resistivity anisotropy, suggesting that the anisotropies have the same origin. The anisotropy drops sharply below the charge order transition. We interpret our results through a strong electron-phonon scattering picture and find that both electronic and phononic contributions to the diffusivity saturate a proposed bound. Our results suggest that neither well-defined electron nor phonon quasiparticl…
We report novel features in the in-plane magnetoresistance (MR) of heavily underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x}, which unveil a developed ``charged stripe'' structure in this system. One of the striking features is an anisotropy of the MR with a "d-wave" symmetry upon rotating the magnetic field H within the ab plane, which is caused by the rotation of the stripes with the external field. With decreasing temperature, a hysteresis shows up below ~20 K in the MR curve as a function of H and finally below 10 K the magnetic-field application produces a persistent change in the resistivity. This "memory eff…
We present a study of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistance (MR) in heavily-underdoped, antiferromagnetic YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x}, which reveals a variety of striking features. The in-plane MR demonstrates a "d-wave"-like anisotropy upon rotating the magnetic field H within the ab plane. With decreasing temperature below 20-25 K the system acquires memory: exposing a crystal to the magnetic field results in a persistent in-plane resistivity anisotropy. The overall features can be explained by assuming that the CuO_2 planes contain a developed array of stripes accommodating the doped holes, …
We report the comprehensive comparative analysis of the upper critical magnetic fields $μ_{0}H_{c2}(0)$ obtained within Ginzburg-Landau and Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg theories for optimally-doped $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ thin films. For different orientations of the magnetic field, our calculations give 638 and 153 T for $μ_{0}H_{c2}(0)$, H || ab and $μ_{0}H_{c2}(0)$, H || c, respectively, when using $H_{c2}(0)$. For the first time, the temperature dependences of coherence lengths $ξ_{ab}(T)$ and $ξ_{c}(T)$ within proposed theories were determined using 50 and 90% criteria of the normal state resis…
A superconducting transition in the temperature dependence of the ab-plane resistivity of underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x} crystals in the range T_c<30 K has been investigated. Unlike the case of samples with the optimal level of doping, the transition width increased insignificantly with magnetic field, and in the range T_c<13 K it decreased with increasing magnetic field. The transition point T_c(B) was determined by analyzing the fluctuation conductivity. The curves of B_{c2}(T) measured in the region T/T_c>0.1 did not show a tendency to saturation and had a positive second derivative everywhere…
It was recently demonstrated that in La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} the magnetic-field (H) dependence of the low-temperature thermal conductivity κup to 16 T reflects whether the normal state is a metal or an insulator. We measure the H dependence of κin YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} (YBCO) at subkelvin temperatures for a wide doping range, and find that at low doping the κ(H) behavior signifies the change in the ground state in this system as well. Surprisingly, the critical doping is found to be located deeply inside the underdoped region, about the hole doping of 0.07 hole/Cu; this critical doping is apparentl…
Pulsed field measurements of the Hall resistivity and magnetoresistance of underdoped YBa2Cu4O8 are analyzed self-consistently using a simple model based on coexisting electron and hole carriers. The resultant mobilities and Hall numbers are found to vary markedly with temperature. The conductivity of the hole carriers drops by one order of magnitude below 30 K, explaining the absence of quantum oscillations from these particular pockets. Meanwhile the Hall coefficient of the electron carriers becomes strongly negative below 50 K. The overall quality of the fits not only provides strong eviden…
We propose and show that the c-axis transport in high-temperature superconductors is controlled by the pseudogap energy and the c-axis resistivity satisfies a universal scaling law in the pseudogap phase. We derived approximately a scaling function for the c-axis resistivity and found that it fits well with the experimental data of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$, Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10+δ}$, and YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$. Our works reveals the physical origin of the semiconductor-like behavior of the c-axis resistivity and suggests that the c-axis hopping is predominantly coherent.
We present a microwave study of the angular dependence of the flux-flow resistivity $ρ_{ff}$ and of the pinning constant $k_p$ in YBCO thin films containing BZO nanorods. We find that BZO nanorods are very efficient pinning centers, even in tilted fields. We find that $ρ_{ff}$ is a scaling function of a reduced field $H/f(θ)$. We extend a model for the anisotropic motion of vortices in uniaxially anisotropic superconductor, able to describe the experimental $f(θ)$ on the basis of only the intrinsic anisotropy of YBCO. The pinning constant $k_p$, by contrast, exhibits different field dependence…
We report on a contrasting behavior of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistance (MR) in heavily underdoped antiferromagnetic (AF) YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x} (x<0.37). The out-of-plane MR (I//c) is positive over most of the temperature range and shows a sharp increase, by about two orders of magnitude, upon cooling through the Neel temperature T_N. A contribution associated with the AF correlations is found to dominate the out-of-plane MR behavior for H//c from far above T_N, pointing to the key role of spin fluctuations in the out-of-plane transport. In contrast, the transverse in-plane MR (I//a(…
In-plane transport properties of nonsuperconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} (y = 6.35) are measured using high-quality untwinned single crystals. We find that both the a- and b-axis resistivities show log(1/T) divergence down to 80 mK, and accordingly the thermal conductivity data indicate that the nodal quasiparticles are progressively localized with lowering temperature. Hence, both the charge and heat transport data do not support the existence of a "thermal metal" in nonsuperconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y}, as opposed to a recent report by Sutherland {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 94}, 14700…
Imaginary part of the microwave conductivity σ''(T<T_c) and the resistivity ρ(T)=1/σ(T>T_c) along (σ_{ab}'' and ρ_{ab}) and perpendicular to (σ_c'' and ρ_c) cuprate ab-planes of YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x} crystal were measured in the temperature range 5\leq T \leq 200 K, having varied the oxygen doping level x in the crystal from 0.07 to 0.47. The superconducting state was found to have the dependences σ_{ab}''(T)/σ_{ab}''(0) and σ_c''(T)/σ_c''(0) coincide in the optimally doped (x=0.07) crystal. With the increase of x the dependences σ_c''(T)/σ_c''(0) have smaller slope at T<T_c/3 with σ_{ab}''(T)/σ_{a…
Magnetoresistance (MR) in the a-axis resistivity of untwinned YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y} single crystals is measured for a wide range of doping (y = 6.45 - 7.0). The y-dependence of the in-plane coherence length ξ_{ab} estimated from the fluctuation magnetoconductance indicates that the superconductivity is anomalously weakened in the 60-K phase; this gives evidence, together with the Hall coefficient and the a-axis thermopower data that suggest the hole doping to be 12% for y = 6.65, that the origin of the 60-K plateau is the 1/8 anomaly. At high temperatures, the normal-state MR data show signatures…
The temperature dependent properties of heat capacity, heat conductivity and Hall-Lorenz ratio have been solved numerically after taking the previously proposed ionization energy based Fermi-Dirac statistics and the coexistence of Fermi and charge-spin separated liquid into account. The thermo-magneto-electronic properties are entirely for spin and charge carriers, hence the phonon contribution has been neglected. A linear dependence between the Hall-Lorenz ratio and temperature ($T$) is also obtained in accordance with the experimental results for overdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$, if these co…
