Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 147001 (2004) [4 pages]

Field-Dependent Diamagnetic Transition in Magnetic Superconductor Sm1.85Ce0.15CuO4-y

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R. Prozorov1,2, D. D. Lawrie1, I. Hetel3, P. Fournier3, and R. W. Giannetta1
1Loomis Laboratory of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
2Department of Physics & Astronomy and NanoCenter, University of South Carolina, 712 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA
3Regroupement Québécois sur les mMatériaux de Pointe, Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, J1K 2R1

Received 2 June 2004; published 27 September 2004

The magnetic penetration depth of single crystal Sm1.85Ce0.15CuO4-y was measured down to 0.4 K in dc fields up to 7 kOe. For insulating Sm2CuO4, Sm3+ spins order at the Néel temperature, TN=6  K, independent of the applied field. Superconducting Sm1.85Ce0.15CuO4-y (Tc≈23  K) shows a sharp increase in diamagnetic screening below T*(H) which varied from 4.0 K (H=0) to 0.5 K (H=7  kOe) for a field along the c axis. If the field was aligned parallel to the conducting planes, T* remained unchanged. The unusual field dependence of T* indicates a spin-freezing transition that dramatically increases the superfluid density.


©2004 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v93/e147001
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.147001
PACS: 74.70.–b, 74.20.Rp, 74.25.Ha

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