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Determination of The Local Atomic Structure of LA2-x(SR,BA)xCUO4 Materials From Neutron Powder Diffraction Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

S. J. L. Billinge
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
G. H. Kwei
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550.
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Abstract

We describe the use of neutron powder diffraction for studying the local structure of high-temperature superconductors. This is accomplished by carrying out a pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. This approach does not presume a periodic structure and allows short range deviations from perfect crystalline order to be observed. Data from a sample of La2CuO4 collected on two different diffractometers are compared to determine the degree of reproducibility of the results. It is found that the data reproduce very well; however, a model-PDF, fit to the data assuming the average crystal structure in the low-temperature-orthorhombic (LTO) phase, differs from the data in a number of significant ways. This is related to earlier observations that the local structure of the La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 compound differs from the average crystal structure.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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