Low-temperature growth of the infinite layer phase of strontium copper oxide, SrCuO2, by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

The products obtained from conventional solid-state synthetic reactions are often limited to the high-temperature thermodynamic ones, and thus there has been considerable interest in developing new low-temperature approaches that might provide access to novel phases and materials. For example, several groups have described the use of low-temperature reactive fluxes to prepare new metal-chalcogenide phases, and other researchers have investigated the low-temperature synthesis of inorganic solids via the decomposition of molecular precursors. Herein, the authors report a strikingly different approach for low-temperature solis-state synthesis based on pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and the authors use this method to prepare the tetragonal infinite layer phase of SrCuO{sub 2}. The tetragonal phase of SrCuO{sub 2} is an important target since it represents the parent structure of the high-temperature copper oxide superconductors; however, it is inaccessible by conventional high-temperature synthetic routes. 18 refs., 2 figs.