Neutron-scattering study of stripe-phase order of holes and spins in La1.48Nd0.4Sr0.12CuO4

J. M. Tranquada, J. D. Axe, N. Ichikawa, Y. Nakamura, S. Uchida, and B. Nachumi
Phys. Rev. B 54, 7489 – Published 1 September 1996
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Abstract

We present a neutron diffraction study of charge and spin order within the CuO2 planes of La1.48Nd0.4Sr0.12CuO4, a crystal in which superconductivity is anomalously suppressed. At low temperatures we observe elastic magnetic superlattice peaks of the type (1/2±ε,1/2,0) and charge-order peaks at (2±2ε,0,0), where ε=0.118. After cooling the crystal through the low-temperature-orthorhombic (LTO) to low-temperature-tetragonal (LTT) phase transition near 70 K, the charge-order peaks appear first at ∼60 K, with the magnetic peaks appearing below 50 K. The magnetic peaks increase in intensity by an order of magnitude below 3 K due to ordering of the Nd ions. We show that the observed diffraction features are consistent with stripe-phase order, in which the dopant-induced holes collect in domain walls that separate antiferromagnetic antiphase domains. The Q dependence of the magnetic scattering indicates that the low-temperature correlation length within the planes is substantial (∼170 Å), but only very weak correlations exist between next-nearest-neighbor planes. Correlations between nearest-neighbor layers are frustrated by pinning of the charge stripes to the lattice distortions of the LTT phase. The spin-density-wave amplitude corresponds to a Cu moment of 0.10±0.03 μB. The behavior of the electrical resistivity within the LTT phase is examined, and the significance of stripe-phase correlations for understanding the unusual transport properties of layered cuprates is discussed. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

  • Received 29 February 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.54.7489

©1996 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

J. M. Tranquada and J. D. Axe

  • Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973

N. Ichikawa, Y. Nakamura, and S. Uchida

  • Superconductivity Research Course, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 2-11-16, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan

B. Nachumi

  • Department of Physics, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, New York 10027

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Vol. 54, Iss. 10 — 1 September 1996

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