Intrinsic tunneling study of underdoped Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ superconductors

We report on a tunneling study of underdoped submicron Bi₂Sr_2-xLa_xCuO_6+δ (La-Bi2201) intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs), whose self-heating is sufficiently suppressed. The tunneling spectra are measured from 4.2 K up to the pseudogap opening temperature of T^* = 260 K. The gap value found from the spectral peak position is about 35 meV and has a weak temperature dependence both below and above the superconducting transition temperature of T_c = 29 K. Since the superconducting gap should have a value of 10-15 meV, our results indicate that the pseudogap (～35 meV) plays an important role in the underdoped La-Bi2201 intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy down to the lowest temperature of 4.2 K. However, the contribution of the superconducting gap can be separated by normalizing the spectra to the one near and above T_c, which shows that the IJJs can be a useful tool for the study of the electronic properties of the La-Bi2201 cuprate superconductors.     

Low-energy excitations and stripes in superconducting cuprate La1.87Sr0.13CuO4

The conductivity and dielectric permittivity spectra of single-crystalline La_1.87Sr_0.13CuO₄ are directly measured with the electric field polarized perpendicular to the CuO planes (E∥c) covering the frequency range 10-40 cm⁻¹ and temperatures 5-300 K. We observe in the superconducting state a well pronounced excitation with strongly temperature dependent parameters. We suggest that the excitation is caused by the transverse Josephson plasma mode that appears due to the different strengths of Josephson coupling between the superconducting charge stripes in the neighboring and next-nearest neighboring copper-oxygen planes of La_1.87Sr_0.13CuO₄. A strongly enhanced low-frequency (below 15 cm⁻¹) absorption is seen in the superconducting state that is assigned to delocalized quasiparticles of as yet unknown origin.     

Intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystals

We report on thec-axis superconducting energy gap parameter Δ _c (T) of intrinsic Josephson tunnel junctions inBi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O _8+δ (Bi2212) single crystals. Δ _c (4.2K)≈10−13 meV, which is approximately a factor of two smaller than reported in the majority of tunneling experiments. Δ _c (T) deviates strongly from the BCS temperature dependence. These observations may be explained by a multilayer model of Bi2212 which assumes that theBi−O layers are superconducting due to the proximity effects. The Josephson tunneling then takes place between adjacentBi−O layers while there is a strong proximity coupling betweenBi−O andCu−O layers. The work is supported by Swedish Supercon-ductivity Consortium and NUTEK, and, in part, by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant #95-02-04307     

A comparison of barrier type tunnel junction and point contact tunnel junction formed on the same highT c material

By making a combination of both point contact and barrier type tunnel junctions on a single sample of the highT _c superconductor BSCCO (2212) single crystal, we have shown that as the tunneling tip is slowly retracted from the surface a point contact junction gradually evolves from a N-S short to a high resistance tunnel junction. The scaled dynamic conductance (dI/dV) of this point contact tunnel junction becomes almost identical to that of a conventional barrier type tunnel junction and both show a linear dI/dV —V curve. The observation implies that at high resistance a point contact junction behaves in the same way as a barrier type tunnel junction. We suggested that the almost linear tunneling conductance obtained in both the cases most likely arises due to an intrinsic characteristic of the surface of the crystal comprising of a mosaic of superconducting regions of the order of a few nanometers. We also conclude that the barrierless (N-S) point contact obtained by piercing the surface oxide layer of the crystal shows Andreev reflection which we suggest as the origin of the zero bias anomaly often observed in point contact junctions.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy on multi-layered cuprate superconductor Ba2Ca5Cu6O12 (O1−x Fx)2

Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) measurements on multi-layered cuprate superconductor Ba₂Ca₅Cu₆O₁₂ (O_1−x F_x)₂ are carried out. STM topographies show randomly distributed bright spot structures with a typical spot size of 0.8 nm. These bright spots are occupied about 28% per one unit cell of c-plane, which is comparable to the regular amount of apical oxygen of 20% obtained from element analysis. Tunneling spectra simultaneously show both the small and the large gap structures. These gap sizes at 4.9 K are about Δ 15 meV and 90 meV, respectively. The small gap structure disappears at the temperature close to T_C, while the large gap persists up to 200 K. Therefore, these features correspond to the superconducting gap and pseudogap, respectively. These facts give evidence for some ordered state with large energy scale even in the superconducting state. For the superconducting gap, the ratio of 2Δ/K_BT_C = 4.9 is obtained with T_C = 70 K, which is determined from temperature dependence of the tunneling spectra.     

Tunneling investigations of single crystals of the single-layer cuprate Bi2Sr2CuOz in high magnetic fields

The coexistence of a superconducting gap and a normal-state gap (pseudogap) is observed in tunneling experiments with high-quality single crystals of the single-layer cuprate Bi₂Sr₂CuO_z. At temperatures T< T _c the normal-state gap, whose width is close to that of the super-conducting gap, does not vanish in magnetic fields H>H _c2. The large smearing of the gap structure in the tunneling spectra and the high conductance of tunnel junctions at zero bias voltage are due to the strong angular dependence of the superconducting-and normal-state gaps. The results of the investigations are in good agreement with recently published angle-resolved photoemission data. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 3, 217–222 (10 August 1998)     

Zero bias conductance peak enhancement in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8/Pb tunneling junctions

Recently, there has been tremendous interest on a tunneling feature called zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) commonly found in high T_csuperconductor tunnel junctions. The interest stemmed from the feature’s root in the d-wave symmetry of high T_csuperconductors. In this paper we will review results of our study on ZBCP within a Pb/Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈(BSCCO) tunneling junction. This allows us to investigate the intricate interactions between s- and d-wave superconductivity. The ZBCP indeed demonstrates interesting properties when Pb becomes superconducting. We attribute these results to the suppression of the d-wave phase on the surface of BSCCO by the s-wave superconductivity from Pb through a proximity effect. We will also report some recent results on the magnetic field dependence of the ZBCP.     

Intrinsic Josephson tunneling for basic studies of high-temperature superconductors

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) are highly anisotropic with layers of CuO₂ separated by layers of charge reservoirs. The superconducting CuO₂ planes are weakly coupled by Josephson tunneling of Cooper pairs in the c-axis direction. It may be possible to use the intrinsic tunneling to realize a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions at the surface of a single crystal (or epitaxial film) of HTS. These will form excellent tools in the study of superconducting properties of HTS.     

Temperature dependence of the critical current in YBa2Cu3O7−δ and Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8 Josephson junctions

We have studied the stationary Josephson effect on YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (T_c=90 K) and Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂ O₈ (T_c=80 Kand 87 Kfortwosamplesofdifferentorigin) ceramic based junctions. The temperature dependence of the critical current near T_c has been found as I_c≈(T_c-T) for the Y-Ba-Cu-O samples indicating that they should be classified as S-N-I-N-S type junctions. The I-V curves of the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu samples show the typical behaviour of S-I-S structures. Using Ambegaokar-Baratoff's theory for Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂O₈, the temperature dependence of the superconducting state gap Δ(T) was calculated and it was evaluated that 1.452Δ(0)/k_BT_c3.5.     

Magnetotransport and magnetotunneling in single-layer, two-layer, and three-layer Bi2Sr2Can−1CunOz (n=1,2,3) single crystals

In continuous magnetic fields H up to 28 T, we have studied the out-of-plane transport properties and tunneling characteristics of high-quality nondoped single crystals of the Bi-cuprate family: Bi₂Sr₂CuO_6+δ (Bi2201), Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ (Bi2212) and Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10+δ (Bi2223) grown by an identical method. For all compounds the out-of-plane magnetotransport ρ_c(H) is negative in the temperature region where ρ_c(T) shows in the normal state a semiconducting-like temperature dependence. The negative magnetoresistance of ρ_c corresponds to the suppression of the semiconducting temperature dependence of ρ_c(T) which is found to be isotropic. For the Bi2201 compound, where the normal state can be reached in the available magnetic fields (28 T), a nearly complete suppression of the low-temperature upturn in ρ_c(T) is observed in the highest magnetic fields with a tendency towards a metallic behavior down to the lowest temperatures (0.4 K). Using the break-junction technique, especially for the Bi2212 and Bi2232 compounds, a clear superconducting gap structure can be observed. Both for temperatures above the critical temperature and for magnetic fields above the upper critical field, a pseudogap structure remains present in the tunneling spectra. The applied magnetic fields yield a stronger suppression of the superconducting state compared to that of the normal-state gap structures as manifested in ρ_c(T) transport and tunneling.     

Enhanced superconductivity in Sr2CuO4−v

A critical review of previous investigations of the superconductivity with enhanced T_c ∼ 95 K found in Sr₂CuO_4−v shows that new physics occurs in a highly overdoped region of the cuprate phase diagram. Moreover, evidence is adduced from the literature that 30% of the oxygen sites in the CuO₂ layers are vacant; a conclusion which is at odds with the universally made assumption that superconductivity originates in stoichiometric CuO₂ layers. While further research is needed in order to identify the pairing mechanism(s) responsible for the enhanced T_c, we suggest possible candidates.     

Potential parent compound of superconductor: Sr2CuM2As2O2 (M = Mn, Fe)

The electronic structure of Sr₂CuMn₂As₂O₂ and Sr₂CuFe₂As₂O₂ are studied by the first-principle calculations. These compounds have a body-centered-tetragonal crystal structure that consists of the CuO₂ layers similar to those in the high-Tc cuprate superconductor, and intermetallic MAs (M = Mn, or Fe) layers similar to the FeAs layers in high-Tc pnictides. Such special structure makes them as interesting candidates for new type of superconductor since they have two types of superconducting layers. However, our calculations indicate that the states in the range from −2.0 eV to +2.0 eV are dominated by Mn-3d or Fe-3d states, while the states of Cu-3d are far away from the Fermi level (in the range from −3.0 eV to −1.0 eV). Such results are significantly different with the Cu-based superconductor, like La₂CuO₄, where the states around Fermi level are dominated by Cu-3d states. Besides, we find that the mean-field magnetic ground state is the checkerboard antiferromagnetic in Cu sublattice and the stripe antiferromagnetic in Fe (or Mn) sublattice.     

Influence of the interplay between helicoidal magnetic ordering and superconductivity on the differential conductance in HoNi<Subscript>2</Subscript>B<Subscript>2</Subscript>C/Ag junctions

The point contact spectra of magnetic superconductor HoNi₂B₂C/Ag-based junctions is analysed in the framework of Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) theory. The anomalous behavior in the dI/dV curves above the Neel temperature(T _N ∼ 5 K) is attempted to be explained by the partial suppression of superconducting gap parameter of the prevailing helical incommensurate structure     

Nature of low-energy excitations in La<Subscript>1.87</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>0.13</Subscript>CuO<Subscript>4</Subscript> superconducting cuprate

The spectra of the conductivity and dielectric constant of La_1.87Sr_0.13CuO₄ cuprate have been directly measured in the frequency range of 0.3 to 1.2 THz (10–40 cm⁻¹) and the temperature range of 5 to 300 K in the E | c polarization (the electric field vector of radiation is perpendicular to the copper-oxygen planes). Excitation has been observed in the superconducting phase, and its nature has been attributed to the transverse optical excitation of the condensate of Cooper pairs, which appears because Josephson junctions between CuO planes are modulated due to in-plane magnetic and charge stripes. Additional quasiparticle absorption of unknown origin has been detected at frequencies below ≈15 cm⁻¹ at liquid helium temperatures.     

Characteristics of the Surface-Intrinsic Josephson Junction

During the fabrication of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) with Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ (BSCCO) single crystals, the superconductivity of the surface Cu-O layer is degraded because of a deposited metal film on top of the stack. Thus, the characteristics of the surface junction consisting of the surface Cu-O double layers remarkably differ from those of the junctions deep in the stack, which will be referred to as ordinary IJJs. The electrical transport characteristics of the surface junction, such as I-V, I _c′-T, and R-T, show that the critical temperature T _c′ of the surface junction is always lower than that of ordinary IJJs, and that the change of its critical current I _c′ with temperature is different from that of ordinary IIJs. Furthermore, by shunting the surface junction resistively, we are able to observe the AC Josephson effect at 3-mm waveband. Translated from Chinese Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 2005, 27(2) (in Chinese)     

Condensation energy of the superconducting bilayer cuprates

In the present work, we report the interplay of single particle and Cooper pair tunnelings on the superconducting state of layered high-T _c cuprate superconductors. For this we have considered a model Hamiltonian incorporating the intra-planar interactions and the contributions arising due to the coupling between the planes. The interplanar interactions include the single particle tunneling as well as the Josephson tunneling of Cooper pairs between the two layers. The expression of the out-of-plane correlation parameter which describes the hopping of a particle from one layer to another layer in the superconducting state is obtained within a Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer (BCS) formalism using the Green’s function technique. This correlation is found to be sensitive to the various parameter of the model Hamiltonian. We have calculated the out-of-plane contribution to the superconducting condensation energy. The calculated values of condensation energy are in agreement with those obtained from the specific heat and the c-axis penetration depth measurements on bilayer cuprates.     

Andreev bound states in high temperature superconductors

Andreev bound states at the surface of superconductors are expected for any pair potential showing a sign change in different k-directions with their spectral weight depending on the relative orientation of the surface and the pair potential. We report on the observation of Andreev bound states in high temperature superconductors (HTS) employing tunneling spectroscopy on bicrystal grain boundary Josephson junctions (GBJs). The tunneling spectra were studied as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. The tunneling spectra of GBJ formed by YBa₂Cu₃O (YBCO), Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O(BSCCO), and La_1.85Sr_0.15CuO₄ (LSCO) show a pronounced zero bias conductance peak that can be interpreted in terms of Andreev bound states at zero energy that are expected at the surface of HTS having a d-wave symmetry of the order parameter. In contrast, for the most likely s-wave HTS Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4-y (NCCO) no zero bias conductance peak was observed. Applying a magnetic field results in a shift of spectral weight from zero to finite energy. This shift is found to depend nonlinearly on the applied magnetic field. Further consequences of the Andreev bound states are discussed and experimental evidence for anomalous Meissner currents is presented. Received: 17 February 1998 / Revised: 27 April 1998 / Accepted: 23 June 1998     

Structure and superconducting properties of Bi2Ba2−xMxCuO6+δ

The effect of oxygen nonstoichiometry and barium cation substitution on the structure and superconducting properties of Bi₂Ba_2−xM_xCuO_{6 +δ}(M = Sr, Ru, Rh, Pd, In, Sb or Pb;xchanged from 0 to 0.2) were studied. The cation-substituted samples annealed in oxygen flow contain a superconducting phase withT_c^initnear 95 K.     

Electrical and infrared study of Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8 in semiconducting, superconducting ceramic and superconducting glass ceramic state

We have studied the electrical and infrared properties of Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂O₈ compound in three states. Electrical and IR measurements show that the pure powder state sample is a semiconductor, the ceramic Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂O₈ sample prepared after annealing at 820°C for 240 hours shows a T_c of 85 K, whereas Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂O₈ sample prepared through glassy route, i.e. melting at 1250°C and annealing at 820°C for 240 hours shows a drop of T_c by 5 K. The infrared spectra of superconducting ceramic and glass ceramic states in the available frequency range of measurement reveals the presence of three phonons. Since the vibrational mode around 595 cm^–1 is due to CuO₂ layers and as the CuO₂ layers are responsible for T_c in the ceramic superconductors, any change in these layers will affect the T_c. The shifting of the 595 cm^–1 mode towards lower frequencies in the glass ceramic due to different preparation process, indicates that there is a change in CuO₂ layers resulting in a change of T_c, which is confirmed by Four probe dc measurements.     

Influence of the doping level on the charge distribution among the inequivalent CuO2 layers in Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10−δ : a NMR study

and NMR measurements in the normal and superconducting states of Tl₂Ba₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10−δ with different δ are reported. In the overdoped Tl2223 sample with T_c=117 K (T_c^opt=123 K) and δ₁<δ^opt different temperature dependencies of the Knight shift are revealed for inequivalent CuO₂ layers. For the inner CuO₂ layer with the square oxygen coordination of Cu the decrease of with temperature is more gradual. In going towards the underdoped Tl2223 with T_c=104 K and δ₂>δ^opt the changes of with temperature are found to be the same for both types of copper layers. The quadrupole coupling constants for copper and oxygen from different CuO₂ layers were obtained. From the variations with doping of the valence contribution to the electric field gradient at copper sites, we estimate both the hole numbers at Cu and oxygen sites and the real concentration of mobile hole carriers n_h in each of inequivalent CuO₂ layers. In the overdoped Tl2223 sample the charge density in the inner layer differs from the one in the outer plane (with five-fold oxygen coordination for Cu). Our results show that the inhomogeneity of the charge distribution disappears in the underdoped regime. The results are compared with calculations of the charge distribution among the CuO₂ planes in multilayered cuprates reported by Haines and Tallon [E.M. Haines, J.L. Tallon, Phys. Rev. B 45 (1992) 3127].