2011/05/04 by M. van Zalk, M van Zalk, A. Brinkman +3 · 4 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Conductance #Electrical resistivity and conductivity #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Magnetic anisotropy #Magnetoresistance #Nucleation #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Scaling #Superconductivity in MgB2 and Alloys #Thin film #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/23/20/205602
published in Journal of Physics Condensed Matter 23(20), 205602 (IOP Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2011/05/04 · arxiv created 2011/05/29 · arxiv updated 2011/06/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We have performed a detailed study of conductance anisotropy and magnetoresistance (MR) of La(2 - x)Sr(x)CuO(4) (LSCO) thin films (0.10 < x < 0.25). These two observables are promising for the detection of stripes. Subtle features of the conductance anisotropy are revealed by measuring the transverse resistance R(xy) in zero magnetic field. It is demonstrated that the sign of R(xy) depends on the orientation of the LSCO Hall bar with respect to the terrace structure of the substrate. Unit-cell-high substrate step edges must therefore be a dominant nucleation source for antiphase boundaries during film growth. We show that the measurement of R(xy) is sensitive enough to detect the cubic-tetragonal phase transition of the SrTiO(3)(100) (STO) substrate at 105 K. The MR of LSCO thin films shows for 0.10 < x < 0.25 a non-monotonic temperature dependence, resulting from the onset of a linear term in the MR above 90 K. We show that the linear MR scales with the Hall resistivity as [Formula: see text], with the constant of proportionality independent of temperature. Such scaling suggests that the linear MR originates from current distortions induced by structural or electronic inhomogeneities. The possible role of stripes for both the MR and the conductance anisotropy is discussed throughout the paper.