Epitaxial Strain and Superconductivity inLa2−xSrxCuO4Thin Films

The report that $T_c$ was doubled in underdoped ${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{a}}_{2-x}{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{r}}_x{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{O}}_4$ films under compressive epitaxial strain has stirred great interest. We show that such films are extremely sensitive to oxygen intake, even at very low temperature, with startling consequences including colossal lattice expansion and a crossover from semiconductor to metallic behavior. We can bring $T_c$ up to 40 K in ${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{O}}_4$ films on ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_3$ substrates—without any Sr doping and under tensile strain. On $\mathrm{L}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{r}{\mathrm{A}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{O}}_4$ substrates, we reached $T_c=51.5\mathrm{K}$, the highest so far in ${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{a}}_{2-x}{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{r}}_x{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{O}}_4$.