Atomic Visualization of Copper Oxide Structure in Infinite-Layer Cuprate SrCuO2

Abstract

We report on atomic-scale visualization of the structure of infinite-layer cuprate SrCuO2 thin films grown on Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. In-situ scanning tunneling microscopy study reveals stoichiometric copper oxide (CuO2) plane with a 2 x 2 surface reconstruction, prompted by preferential clustering of four adjacent CuO2 plaquettes. By imaging the subsurface Sr atoms, intra-unit-cell rotational symmetry breaking is observed, which, together with the adjacent CuO2 clustering, can be well accounted for by a periodic up-down buckling of oxygen ions on the CuO2 plane. Further post-annealing leads to an incommensurate stripe structure of the surface layer. Our findings provide important structural information for deeply understanding the electronic structure of superconducting CuO2 plane as well as high temperature superconductivity in cuprates.

arXiv comment15 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (17)

• Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of the cuprate superconductors
• Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors
• Discovery of microscopic electronic inhomogeneity in the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x
• An Intrinsic Bond-Centered Electronic Glass with Unidirectional Domains in Underdoped Cuprates
• Intra-unit-cell electronic nematicity of the high-Tc copper-oxide pseudogap states
• Direct phase-sensitive identification of a d-form factor density wave in underdoped cuprates
• Nodeless pairing in superconducting copper-oxide monolayer films on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ
• Strongly correlated s-wave pairing in the n-type infinite-layer cuprate
• Nodeless superconductivity arising from strong (pi,pi) antiferromagnetism in the infinite-layer electron-doped cuprate Sr1-xLaxCuO2
• STM imaging of symmetry-breaking structural distortion in the Bi-based cuprate superconductors
• Prediction of thickness limits of ideal polar ultrathin films
• Atomic Scale Imaging and Spectroscopy of a CuO_2 Plane at the Surface of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+delta}
• Mapping the Electronic Structure of Each Ingredient Oxide Layer of High-$T_{\text{c}}$ Cuprate Superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ
• Doping evolution and polar surface reconstruction of the infinite-layer cuprate Sr${}_{1-x}$La${}_x$CuO${}_2$
• Nodeless superconductivity in the infinite-layer electron-doped Sr_0.9La_0.1CuO_2 cuprate superconductor
• Synthesis and pinning properties of the infinite-layer superconductor Sr0.9La0.1CuO
• Electronic structure of the ingredient planes of cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ: a comparison study with Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Direct visualization of ambipolar Mott transition in cuprate CuO2 planes
• Advances in Complex Oxide Quantum Materials Through New Approaches to Molecular Beam Epitaxy
• Molecular beam epitaxy growth and surface structure of Sr1-xNdxCuO2 cuprate films
• Exploring charge and spin fluctuations in infinite-layer cuprate SrCuO${}_2$ from a phonon perspective
• An emergent quasi-2D metallic state derived from the Mott insulator framework