Quantitative characterization of the nanoscale local lattice strain induced by Sr dopants in LaSrCuO

Lin, J. Q.*; Liu, X.*; Blackburn, E.*; Wakimoto, Shuichi; Ding, H.*; Islam, Z.*; Sinha, S. K.*

Physical Review Letters, 120(19), p.197001_1 - 197001_6, 2018/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.197001

The nanometer scale lattice deformation brought about by the dopants in the high temperature superconducting cuprate LaSrCuO was investigated by measuring the associated X-ray diffuse scattering around multiple Bragg peaks. Our results address the long-term concern of dopant introduced local lattice inhomogeneity, and show that the associated nanometer scale lattice deformation is marginal and cannot be responsible for the patched variation in the spectral gaps observed with scanning tunneling microscopy in the cuprates.