Quantitative Characterization of the Nanoscale Local Lattice Strain Induced by Sr Dopants in ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.92}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.08}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$

Quantitative Characterization of the Nanoscale Local Lattice Strain Induced by Sr Dopants in ${La}_{1.92} {Sr}_{0.08} {CuO}_{4}$

J. Q. Lin, X. Liu, E. Blackburn, S. Wakimoto, H. Ding, Z. Islam, and S. K. Sinha

Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 197001 – Published 11 May 2018

Abstract

The nanometer scale lattice deformation brought about by the dopants in the high temperature superconducting cuprate ${La}_{2 - x} {Sr}_{x} {CuO}_{4}$ ( $x = 0.08$ ) was investigated by measuring the associated x-ray diffuse scattering around multiple Bragg peaks. A characteristic diffuse scattering pattern was observed, which can be well described by continuum elastic theory. With the fitted dipole force parameters, the acoustic-type lattice deformation pattern was reconstructed and found to be of similar size to lattice thermal vibration at 7 K. Our results address the long-term concern of dopant introduced local lattice inhomogeneity, and show that the associated nanometer scale lattice deformation is marginal and cannot, alone, be responsible for the patched variation in the spectral gaps observed with scanning tunneling microscopy in the cuprates.

Received 3 July 2017
Revised 24 January 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.197001

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Impurities in superconductors Point defects Superconducting fluctuations

High-temperature superconductors

X-ray diffuse scattering

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. Q. Lin^1,2, X. Liu^1,3,4,*, E. Blackburn⁵, S. Wakimoto⁶, H. Ding^1,2,4, Z. Islam⁷, and S. K. Sinha⁸

¹Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
²School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
³School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
⁴Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China
⁵School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
⁶Materials Sciences Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan
⁷Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
⁸Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA