Microscopic annealing process and its impact on superconductivity in T'-structure electron-doped copper oxides

Abstract

High-transition-temperature superconductivity arises in copper oxides when holes or electrons are doped into the CuO2 planes of their insulating parent compounds. While hole-doping quickly induces metallic behavior and superconductivity in many cuprates, electron-doping alone is insufficient in materials such as R2CuO4 (R is Nd, Pr, La, Ce, etc.), where it is necessary to anneal an as-grown sample in a low-oxygen environment to remove a tiny amount of oxygen in order to induce superconductivity. Here we show that the microscopic process of oxygen reduction repairs Cu deficiencies in the as-grown materials and creates oxygen vacancies in the stoichiometric CuO2 planes, effectively reducing disorder and providing itinerant carriers for superconductivity. The resolution of this long-standing materials issue suggests that the fundamental mechanism for superconductivity is the same for electron- and hole-doped copper oxides.

23 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Nature Materials

References in corpus (10)

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• Direct Observation of Non-Monotonic dx2-y2-Wave Superconducting Gap in Electron-Doped High-Tc Superconductor Pr0.89LaCe0.11CuO4
• Resonance in the electron-doped high-Tc superconductor Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO(4-delta)
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• Role of oxygen in the electron-doped superconducting cuprates
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• Effect of a magnetic field on the long-range magnetic order in insulating Nd2CuO4, nonsuperconducting and superconducting Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4
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• Synthesis and pinning properties of the infinite-layer superconductor Sr0.9La0.1CuO

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Progress and perspectives on the electron-doped cuprates
• Controlled manipulation of oxygen vacancies using nanoscale flexoelectricity
• Suppression of the antiferromagnetic pseudogap in the electron-doped high-temperature superconductor by "protect annealing"
• Superconductivity phase diagrams of electron doped cuprates R(2-x)CexCuO4 (R = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, and Eu)
• Evolution of the electronic state through the reduction annealing in electron-doped Pr_1.3-x_La_0.7_Ce_x_CuO_4+delta_ (x=0.10) single crystals: Antiferromagnetism, Kondo effect and superconductivity
• Hole-pocket-driven superconductivity and its universal features in the electron-doped cuprates
• Weak coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer suerconductivity in the Electron-Doped Cuprate Superconductors
• Strong electron correlation behind the superconductivity in Ce-free and Ce-underdoped high-Tc T'-cuprates
• Antiferromagnetism-superconductivity competition in electron-doped cuprates triggered by oxygen reduction
• Novel Electronic State and Superconductivity in the Electron-Doped High-Tc T'-Superconductors
• Electronic Structure of Ce-Doped and -Undoped Nd${}_2$CuO${}_4$ Superconducting Thin Films Studied by Hard X-ray Photoemission and Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy
• Electron-Spin Excitation Coupling in an Electron Doped Copper Oxide Superconductor
• Two-Fermi-surface superconducting state and a nodal d-wave gap in the electron-doped Sm(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-d) cuprate superconductor
• Thermal Hall conductivity of electron-doped cuprates
• Extended superconducting dome of electron-doped cuprates after protect annealing revealed by ARPES
• Superconductivity-insensitive order at $q$~1/4 in electron doped cuprates
• Destruction of Neel order and appearance of superconductivity in electron-doped cuprates by oxygen annealing process
• Ce-doping and reduction annealing effects on electronic states in Pr${}_{2-x}$Ce${}_x$CuO${}_4$ studied by Cu $K$-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy
• Disorder-sensitive pump-probe measurements on Nd${}_{1.83}$Ce${}_{0.17}$CuO${}_{4\pm \delta }$ films
• Metal-insulator transition in copper oxides induced by apex displacements
• Vacancy-induced suppression of CDW order and its impact on magnetic order in kagome antiferromagnet FeGe
• Vortex Dynamics and Phase Diagram in the Electron Doped Cuprate Superconductor Pr${}_{0.87}$LaCe${}_{0.13}$CuO${}_4$
• Pressure tuning of structure, superconductivity and novel magnetic order in the Ce-underdoped electron-doped cuprate T'-Pr_1.3-xLa_0.7Ce_xCuO_4 (x = 0.1)
• Superconductivity induced by structural reorganization in the electron-doped cuprate Nd${}_{2-x}$Ce${}_x$CuO${}_4$
• Thickness-induced insufficient oxygen reduction in La(2-x)CexCuO4 thin films
• Effect of high oxygen pressure annealing on superconducting Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 thin films by pulsed laser deposition from Cu-enriched targets
• Magnetotransport evidence of irreversible spin reorientation in the collinear antiferromagnetic state of underdoped ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{2-x}{\mathrm{Ce}}_x{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$
• Post-growth annealing effects on charge and spin excitations in Nd${}_{2-x}$Ce${}_x$CuO${}_4$
• Magnetism behavior of $T^{\prime }$-type Eu${}_2$CuO${}_4$ revealed by muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements
• Doping effect on the evolution of the pairing symmetry in n-type superconductor near antiferromagnetic phase boundary
• Introduction to High-Temperature Superconductivity for Solid State Chemists
• Superconductivity in the Iron-Pnictide Parent Compound SrFe2As2
• Dual Universality and Unconventional Phase Diagram of a Clean 2D Superconductor with Tunable Disorders