Thermal conductivity of Pr1.3-xLa0.7CexCuO4 single crystals and signatures of stripes in an electron-doped cuprate

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Jan 30;92(4):047001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.047001. Epub 2004 Jan 29.

Abstract

It was recently demonstrated that the anisotropic phonon heat transport behavior is a good probe of the stripe formation in La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4) (LSCO) [Phys. Rev. B 67, 104503 (2003)]]. Using this probe, we examined an electron-doped cuprate Pr(1.3-x)La(0.7)Ce(x)CuO(4) (PLCCO) and found that essentially the same features as those in LSCO are observed. Moreover, the in-plane resistivity rho(ab) of lightly doped PLCCO shows metallic behavior (drho(ab)/dT>0) in the Néel ordered state with a mobility comparable to that in LSCO. It is discussed that these peculiar properties in common with LSCO signify the existence of stripes in electron-doped cuprates.