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Observation Of Changes In The Atomic And Electronic Structure Of Single-Crystal Yba₂Cu₃O₆.₆ Accompanying Bromination, Lamine M. Dieng, Yasuhiro Inamura, Trevor A. Tyson, Mark C. Croft, Fatih Dogan, C. Y. Kim, Joseph C. Woicik, James M. Grow

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To ascertain the role of bromination in the recovery of superconductivity in underdoped YBa₂Cu₃O_6+y (YBCO), we have performed polarized multiple-edge x-ray-absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements on normal (y~0.6) and brominated (Br/Cu~1/30, y~0.6) single crystals with superconducting transitions at 63 and 89 K, respectively. The brominated sample becomes strongly heterogeneous on an atomic length scale. Approximately one-third of YBCO is locally decomposed yet incorporated as a well-ordered "host" lattice as nanoscale regions. The decomposed phase consists of heavily distorted domains with an order not following that of the "host" lattice. Structurally, these domains are fragments of …