Master in Physics

Structural investigation of La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4+y)

This is the web page connected to the master’s project of Pia Jensen Ray from the Niels Bohr Instutute under the University of Copenhagen.

Abstract

The high-temperature superconductor La$$_{2-x}$$Sr$$_x$$CuO$$_{4+y}$$ was discovered almost three decades ago, but the mechanisms behind the superconductivity in the material are still not fully understood. This thesis adds a small piece to the enormous puzzle of solving high-temperature superconductivity.

X-rays and neutrons have been used to investigate the superstructure known as staging, and temperature dependent results for four different samples will be presented and compared to results for similar compounds from literature.

The four La$$_{2-x}$$Sr$$_x$$CuO$$_{4+y}$$ samples investigated in this thesis.

Download links

Below are links for the thesis itself, as well as other relevant downloads.

I have created a DOI number for the thesis itself, in order to make it easier to cite it correctly: DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.2075680.v2. You can also have a look at the FigShare pageGoogle Scholar page, or ResearchGate page belonging to the publication.

About the layout

The thesis was written with a modified LaTeX book class, using the Lucida font family. The class automatically generates a front page and front matter following the current KU specifications (which was previously only a word template). Part and chapter headers are typeset in a similar manner, with a grey box with the part number (Roman numerals) or chapter number in the chosen KU color. Most illustrations were made using PSTricks, while data analysis and visualization was done in MATLAB.

The defense was done in beamer with the Metropolis theme, slightly modified to have a look that fits in the general KU scheme, with the Science logo and logo grids. I was using XeLaTeX to utilize the Fira Sans font family for this.

If there is interest, I should be able to release both these layouts for use by others.