Evidence of a Precursor Superconducting Phase at Temperatures as High as 180 K in $R{\mathrm{Ba}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathbf{O}}_{7\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}\text{ }(R=\mathbf{Y},\mathrm{Gd},\mathrm{Eu})$ Superconducting Crystals from Infrared Spectroscopy

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Evidence of a Precursor Superconducting Phase at Temperatures as High as 180 K in $R {Ba}_{2} {Cu}_{3} O_{7 - δ} (R = Y, Gd, Eu)$ Superconducting Crystals from Infrared Spectroscopy

A. Dubroka, M. Rössle, K. W. Kim, V. K. Malik, D. Munzar, D. N. Basov, A. A. Schafgans, S. J. Moon, C. T. Lin, D. Haug, V. Hinkov, B. Keimer, Th. Wolf, J. G. Storey, J. L. Tallon, and C. Bernhard

Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 047006 – Published 27 January 2011

Abstract

We show that a multilayer analysis of the infrared $c$ -axis response of $R {Ba}_{2} {Cu}_{3} O_{7 - δ} (R = Y, Gd, Eu)$ provides important new information about the anomalous normal-state properties of underdoped cuprate high temperature superconductors. In addition to competing correlations which give rise to a pseudogap that depletes the low-energy electronic states below $T^{*} ≫ T_{c}$ , it enables us to identify the onset of a precursor superconducting state below $T^{ons} > T_{c}$ . We map out the doping phase diagram of $T^{ons}$ which reaches a maximum of 180 K at strong underdoping and present magnetic field dependent data which confirm our conclusions.

Received 15 September 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.047006

Authors & Affiliations

A. Dubroka¹, M. Rössle¹, K. W. Kim¹, V. K. Malik¹, D. Munzar², D. N. Basov³, A. A. Schafgans³, S. J. Moon³, C. T. Lin⁴, D. Haug⁴, V. Hinkov⁴, B. Keimer⁴, Th. Wolf⁵, J. G. Storey⁶, J. L. Tallon⁶, and C. Bernhard^1,*

¹University of Fribourg, Department of Physics and Fribourg Center for Nanomaterials, Chemin du Musée 3, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
²Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic
³Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
⁴Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
⁵Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Festkörperphysik, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
⁶MacDiarmid Institute, Industrial Research Ltd., P.O. Box 31310, Lower Hutt, New Zealand