Doping Dependence of the Effects of In-Plane Disorder on T c and the Pseudogap in Single Layer La214 and Double Layer Y123: a Comparative Study

Abstract

High-T c emerges from an strongly electronically correlated normal state in hole doped cuprates. In this paper, the comparative effect of Zn on the superconducting transition temperature, T c , was studied for the La2−x Sr x Cu1−y Zn y O4 (Zn-La214) and YBa2(Cu1−y Zn y )3O7−δ (Zn-Y123) compounds as a function of hole concentration, p, and Zn content (y) in order to explore the interplay among different electronic ground states in different cuprate systems. Zn induced rate of suppression of T c , dT c (p)/dy, for Zn-La214 was found to be strongly p-dependent and showed a monotonic variation, except in the vicinity of p∼0.125 (i.e., near the 1/8th anomaly where the charge/spin stripe correlations are at their strongest). Magnitude of dT c (p)/dy decreased markedly around p∼0.125. The same feature, at a somewhat reduced scale, was also observed for Zn-Y123. We have also reviewed the p-dependent pseudogap energy scale, e g (p), which shows a quasilinear decrease with increasing p, without any noticeable feature at p∼0.125. The magnitude and the evolution of e g (p) are quite similar for both Zn-La214 and Zn-Y123 compounds even though T c and structural and electronic anisotropies are significantly different.