3D strain-induced superconductivity in La2CuO4+δ using a simple vertically aligned nanocomposite approach

Eun Mi Choi*, Angelo Di Bernardo, Bonan Zhu, Ping Lu, Hen Alpern, Kelvin H.L. Zhang, Tamar Shapira, John Feighan, Xing Sun, Jason Robinson, Yossi Paltiel, Oded Millo, Haiyan Wang, Quanxi Jia, Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

A long-term goal for superconductors is to increase the superconducting transition temperature, TC. In cuprates, TC depends strongly on the out-of-plane Cu-apical oxygen distance and the in-plane Cu-O distance, but there has been little attention paid to tuning them independently. Here, in simply grown, self-assembled, vertically aligned nanocomposite thin films of La2CuO4+δ + LaCuO3, by strongly increasing out-of-plane distances without reducing in-plane distances (three-dimensional strain engineering), we achieve superconductivity up to 50 K in the vertical interface regions, spaced ∼50 nm apart. No additional process to supply excess oxygen, e.g., by ozone or high-pressure oxygen annealing, was required, as is normally the case for plain La2CuO4+δ films. Our proof-of-concept work represents an entirely new approach to increasing TC in cuprates or other superconductors.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereaav5532
JournalScience advances
Volume5
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Bibliographical note

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© 2019 The Authors.

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