Single-crystal growth of underdoped Bi-2223

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful growth and characterization of heavily underdoped single crystals of Bi-2223, enabling resistivity measurements that shed light on its high-temperature superconductivity.

Contribution

It presents the first successful growth of underdoped Bi-2223 single crystals and details their resistivity, XRD, and magnetic properties.

Findings

Resistivity measurements show zero-resistivity temperatures of 20-35 K.

Crystal growth and annealing methods are optimized for underdoped samples.

Structural and magnetic characterizations confirm the underdoped state.

Abstract

To investigate the origin of the enhanced Tc ({\approx} 110 K) of the trilayer cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+{\delta} (Bi-2223), its underdoped single crystals are a critical requirement. Here, we demonstrate the first successful in-plane resistivity measurements of heavily underdoped Bi-2223 (zero-resistivity temperatures {\approx} 20~35 K). Detailed crystal growth methods, the annealing process, as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic susceptibility measurement results are also reported.