Searching for 2D Superconductivity in La2−xSrxCuO4 Single Crystals

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction

   • Itzik Kapon

   Pages 1-17

3. Stiffnessometer, a Magnetic-Field-Free Superconducting Stiffness Meter and Its Application

   • Itzik Kapon

   Pages 19-33

4. The Nature of the Phase Transition in the Cuprates as Revealed by the Stiffnessometer

   • Itzik Kapon

   Pages 35-48

5. Opening a Nodal Gap by Fluctuating Spin-Density-Wave in Lightly Doped La\(_{2-x}\)Sr\(_x\)CuO\(_4\)

   • Itzik Kapon

   Pages 49-57

6. Conclusions

   • Itzik Kapon

   Pages 59-59

7. Back Matter

   Pages 61-63

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A new experimental method – the "Stiffnessometer", is developed to measure elementary properties of a superconductor, including the superconducting stiffness and the critical current. This technique has many advantages over existing methods, such as: the ability to measure these properties while minimally disturbing the system; the ability to measure large penetration depths (comparable to sample size), as necessary when approaching the critical temperature; and the ability to measure critical currents without attaching contacts and heating the sample. The power of this method is demonstrated in a study of the penetration depth of LSCO, where striking evidence is found for two separate critical temperatures for the in-plane and out-of-plane directions. The results in the thesis are novel, important and currently have no theoretical explanation. The stiffnessometer in a tool with great potential to explore new grounds in condensed matter physics. 

• Superconducting stiffness tensor
• Cuprate superconductors
• LSCO superconductor
• Stiffness tensor measurement
• Penetration Depth
• Critical Current
• Phase Transition
• nodal gap in superconductor

• Department of Physics, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

  Itzik Kapon

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