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Phys. Rev. B 67, 054509 (2003) [6 pages]

Spin-glass behavior, spin fluctuations, and superconductivity in Sr2Y(Ru1-uCuu)O6

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Dale R. Harshman*
Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287

W. J. Kossler
Department of Physics, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187

A. J. Greer
Department of Physics, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington 99258

D. R. Noakes and C. E. Stronach
Department of Physics, Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia 23806

E. Koster
Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T-1Z1

M. K. Wu
Department of Physics and Materials Science Center, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

F. Z. Chien
Department of Physics, Tamking University, Tansui, Taiwan

J. P. Franck and I. Isaac
Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada T6G 2J1

John D. Dow
Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287

Received 13 March 2002; published 27 February 2003

Muon spin rotation measurements of Sr2Y(Ru1-uCuu)O6 (for u=0.1) reveal two distinct muon sites: one located in a SrO layer (which is superconducting at low temperatures) and the other in a Y(Ru1-uCuu)O4 layer (which is magnetically ordered at low temperatures). A precursor spin-glass state due to the Ru moments is detected in high fields (≈3.3 kOe) in Y(Ru1-uCuu)O4 layers, with a spin-glass temperature of TG=29.25K. The Y(Ru1-uCuu)O4 layers order ferromagnetically in the a-b planes at the Néel temperature, TN23K. This in-plane ferromagnetism alternates direction between adjacent Y(Ru1-uCuu)O4 planes, resulting in a net antiferromagnetic structure. Although the onset of superconductivity is observed both by electron spin resonance and by dc susceptibility to occur for temperatures up to about Tc,onset49K, this superconductivity is adversely affected by the Ru moments that fluctuate for T>TN producing magnetic fields that break pairs in the SrO layers. The muons, as well as other probes, sense the more-robust static superconductivity for T<TG. In fact, resistance measurements only show zero resistance below TN, at which temperatures the Ru moments that fluctuated for T>TN are frozen in-plane. Hence strictly speaking, the superconducting transition temperature is the same as TN, which is far below Tc,onset. Below TN there are no pair breaking fluctuating magnetic fields in the SrO layers where the hole condensate resides.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.67.054509
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.67.054509
PACS:
74.72.-h, 74.10.+v, 76.75.+i

*Permanent address: Physikon Research Corporation, P.O. Box 1014, Lynden, WA 98264.