Comment on "Phase fluctuation superconductivity in overdoped La2-xSrxCuO4"

TL;DR

This paper critiques a recent study on overdoped LSCO superconductors, emphasizing that neglecting inhomogeneities in critical temperature invalidates many of its conclusions about pseudogap and superconducting fluctuations.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of considering Tc0 inhomogeneities in analyzing resistivity data, challenging previous interpretations of superconducting fluctuations in cuprates.

Findings

Neglecting Tc0 inhomogeneities leads to invalid conclusions.

Inhomogeneities significantly affect resistivity measurements.

Proper analysis requires accounting for sample inhomogeneities.

Abstract

By measuring the in-plane resistivity as a function of temperature and magnetic field in overdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) superconductors, in a recent Letter Rourke et al. [Nature Physics 7, 455 (2011)] have addressed the long standing but still open issue of the interplay between pseudogap and superconducting fluctuations in cuprates. Unfortunately, these authors have analyzed their interesting measurements without taking into account the unavoidable inhomogeneities of the zero-field critical temperature Tc0 associated with the random distribution of the Sr ions, in spite of the different works on this issue in the same compounds. Here we will show that such a shortcoming invalidates most of the conclusions of Rourke et al.