Static and dynamic spin correlations in pure and doped La2CuO

Abstract

We report elastic, quasielastic (F dE), and inelastic neutron-scattering studies of the instantaneous and dynamic spin fluctuations in as-grown and doped ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$. Four samples have been studied: (A) as-grown ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ with ${T}_{N}$=195 K, (B) oxygenated ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ with ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{N}}$\ensuremath{\simeq}100 K, (C) ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{0.95}$${\mathrm{Li}}_{0.05}$${\mathrm{O}}_{4}$, and (D) ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.97}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.03}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{0.95}$${\mathrm{Li}}_{0.05}$${\mathrm{O}}_{4}$. All crystals exhibit variable-range-hopping conductivity behavior. At room temperature each sample exhibits two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic instantaneous correlations in the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}$ sheets with correlation length varying from \ensuremath{\sim}200 A\r{} in crystal A to \ensuremath{\sim}14 A\r{} in crystal D. The integrated intensity and therefore the effective moment is, however, constant to within the experimental error. In samples A and B the 2D correlation length becomes sufficiently large with decreasing temperature that the interplanar coupling is able to drive a transition to 3D long-range order. The spin dynamics have been studied in detail in crystals A and B and quite unusual behavior is observed. In contrast to previously studied planar antiferromagnets, there is no significant E\ensuremath{\simeq}0 component for temperatures \ensuremath{\ge}${T}_{N}$ and instead the 2D response function is highly inelastic. The effective dispersion of the spin excitations is \ensuremath{\ge}0.4 eV A\r{}. This large energy scale for the spin fluctuations gives credence to models of the superconductivity in doped ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ in which the pairing is magnetic in origin.