Superconducting- and Insulating-Ground States in La₂CuO₄ Structural Isomers

Abstract

La2CuO4, with the K2NiF4-structure, is known as the parent compound of hole-doped cuprate superconductors where the Cu ions are octahedrally coordinated and subject to the Jahn–Teller effect. While an octahedral coordination is known for stabilizing an antiferromagnetic and insulating state, we synthesized additional coordination geometries of copper in La2CuO4 where Cu is either square-planar or pyramidal coordinated by a state-of-the-art thin-film growth method. The degeneracy of the Jahn–Teller effect together with rearrangements of the crystal field are expected to have an influence on the electronic states. Indeed, we observed a metallic and superconducting state for La2CuO4 having the Nd2CuO4-structure with square-planar coordinated copper while octahedral and pyramidal coordinations are in favor of the insulating state.