Polarized X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Studies of Copper in High Temperature Superconductors
Abstract
One can take advantage of the linearly polarized nature of the x-rays from a synchrotron to study the electronic and structural properties of single crystals or magnetically aligned powders. Since the advent of layered copper oxide compounds as high temperature superconductors (1) the structures of La_{rm 2-x}Sr _{rm x}CuO _4, Nd_{rm 2-x }Ce_{rm x}CuO _4 and YBa_2Cu _3O_{rm 7-y} have been of extreme interest. In this study, the powder samples of these compounds were magnetically aligned such that the electric vector was either perpendicular or parallel to the crystallographic c axis. The results of polarized XANES (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy) measurements at the copper K-edge (8979 eV) of all three structures will be presented. The EXAFS (Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure) of magnetically aligned YBa_2Cu _3O_{6.9} were used to characterize the local structure as well as study the structural changes of the Cu1-O4 and Cu2-O4 bonds in as a function of temperature (20 to 300 K). In this manner, the Cu1-O4 and Cu2-O4 bonds, which are thought to play a role in the superconductivity of the sample, are distinguishable. The complementary technique of XANES is used to study the electronic structure of the superconducting copper oxides as well as alkali cuprates M^{ rm I}CuO_2 (M = Na, K, Rb and Cs) and rare earth copper oxides RE _2CuO_4 (RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Gd). A method (2) for determining the effective charge is described and applied to the copper oxides. ftn 1. J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Muller; Z Phys. B64, 189 (1986). 2. E. E. Alp, G L. Goodman, L. Soderholm, S.M. Mini, M. Ramanathan, G. K. Shenoy and A. S. Bommannavar, J.Phys. Condens, Matter 1, 6463 (1989).
- Publication:
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Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991PhDT.......269M
- Keywords:
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- SUPERCONDUCTORS;
- Physics: Radiation; Engineering: Materials Science; Physics: Condensed Matter