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Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 217003 (2002) [4 pages]

Direct Evidence for an Intrinsic Square Vortex Lattice in the Overdoped High- Tc Superconductor La1.83Sr0.17CuO4+δ

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R. Gilardi1, J. Mesot1, A. Drew2, U. Divakar2, S. L. Lee2, E. M. Forgan3, O. Zaharko1, K. Conder1, V. K. Aswal4, C. D. Dewhurst5, R. Cubitt5, N. Momono6, and M. Oda6
1Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH Zurich and PSI Villigen, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, United Kingdom
3School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
4Spallation Neutron Source Division, PSI Villigen, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
5Institut Laue-Langevin, BP 156, F-38042 Grenoble, France
6Department of Physics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

Received 20 December 2001; published 10 May 2002

We report here the first direct observations of a well ordered vortex lattice in the bulk of a La2-xSrxCuO4+δ single crystal (slightly overdoped, x = 0.17). Our small angle neutron scattering investigation of the mixed phase reveals a crossover from triangular to square coordination with increasing magnetic field. The existence of an intrinsic square vortex lattice has never been observed in high-temperature superconductors and is indicative of the coupling of the vortex lattice to a source of anisotropy, such as those provided by a d-wave order parameter or the presence of stripes.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.217003
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.217003
PACS:
74.60.Ge, 61.12.Ex, 74.72.Dn
 
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