Abstract

The striking suppression of superconductivity of La{sub 2{minus}{ital x}}Ba{sub {ital x}}CuO{sub 4} in a narrow range of {ital x} around 0.125 is known to be a consequence of a structural transition to a low-temperature tetragonal phase below about 60 K. Study of low-temperature lattice instabilities by x-ray diffraction revealed that in La{sub 2{minus}{ital y}{minus}{ital x}}Th{sub {ital y}}Ba{sub {ital x}}CuO{sub 4} the development of the low-temperature tetragonal phase, as well as the sharp suppression of superconductivity, is centered at {ital x}{minus}{ital y}{congruent}0.125, instead of {ital x}{congruent}0.125. Therefore, the anomalous low-temperature behavior is essentially characterized by the density of carriers rather than local ionic forces, which couples with the lattice instabilities.

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