Vortex fluctuations in superconducting La-Sr-Cu-O

Abstract

Vortex fluctuations in the $La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ system have been studied as a function of magnetic field, temperature and carrier concentration in order to determine the dimensionality of the fluctuations. For a $x=0.10$ sample, there is a unique crossing-temperature on the magnetization vs. temperature plots for all magnetic fields up to 7 T, and the data scale very well with 2D fluctuation theory. At lower x-values where $H_{c2}$ is much smaller, there are two well defined crossing points, one at low fields (typically less than 1 T) and another at high fields (typically 3-7 T). A fit of the data to fluctuation theory shows that the low field crossing data scale as 2D fluctuations and the high field crossing data scale as 3D fluctuations. It would appear that as the magnetic field approaches $H_{c2}$, there is a 2D to 3D cross-over where the low field 2D pancake vortex structure transforms into a 3D vortex structure.