We explore the relationship between the critical temperature T(c), the mobile areal carrier density n(2D), and the zero-temperature magnetic in-plane penetration depth lambda(ab)(0) in very thin underdoped NdBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-delta) films near the superconductor to insulator transition using the electric-field-effect technique. Having established consistency with a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, we observe that T(KT) depends linearly on n(2D), the signature of a quantum superconductor to insulator transition in two dimensions with znu(over)=1, where z is the dynamic and nu is the critical exponent of the in-plane correlation length.

We report on the electrostatic modulation of superconductivity in very thin films of cuprate superconductors using a field-effect device based on a SrTiO3 single-crystal gate insulator. A Tc modulation of 3.5 K and a 37% change of the normal state resistance have been observed in an epitaxial bilayer composed of an insulating PrBa2Cu3O7−δ layer deposited on top of a superconducting NdBa2Cu3O7−δ film, two unit cells thick. To achieve large electric fields, the thickness of the commercial dielectric single-crystal SrTiO3 substrate (also used as the gate insulator) was reduced to 110 μm. The dielectric properties of the gate insulator were characterized as a function of temperature and electric field and the magnitude of the field effect was quantified. A Tc enhancement of 2.8 K was obtained for an applied field of −1.8×106 V/m, corresponding to a polarization of −4 μC/cm2.

We have used the ferroelectric field effect in heterostructures based on superconducting NdBa2-Cu(3)O(7-delta) and ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 to electrostatically modulate in a reversible and nonvolatile fashion the hole carrier density of the superconducting layer. Reversing the ferroelectric polarization induces a constant relative change in the resistivity and Hall constant of 9% and 6%, respectively, at all temperatures above the superconducting transition. The cotangent of the Hall angle displays a T2 dependence with a slope that increases as the carrier density is reduced.

We have performed ferroelectric field effect experiments using an epitaxial heterostructure composed of ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 and superconducting Nb-doped SrTiO3. The films were prepared on (001) SrTiO3 substrates by off-axis radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and pulsed-laser deposition. By switching the polarization field of the 500-Å-thick Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 layer, a large change of about 30% in resistivity and a 20% shift of Tc (ΔTc∼0.05 K) were induced in the 400-Å-thick epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 layer. The relationship between Tc and the electrostatically modulated average carrier concentration can be mapped onto the phase diagram of chemically doped SrTiO3.

We report on measurements of the resistivity and Hall coefficient in underdoped GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7Ϫ␦ epitaxial thin films grown by off-axis magnetron sputtering. The films have been lithographically patterned allowing precise measurements of the temperature dependencies of the inverse Hall constant R H Ϫ1 and of the Hall angle H . We find that R H Ϫ1 is linear in temperature between 300 K and the pseudogap temperature T*, whereas cot( H ) displays a perfect T 2 temperature dependence typically between 300 and 100 K. We observe for all the samples that the temperature at which the temperature dependence of cot( H ) deviates from the T 2 behavior is correlated to the temperature at which R H displays a peak. This characteristic temperature, found to lie between T c and T*, does not depend markedly on the doping level and defines a crossover line in the temperature versus doping phase diagram. We tentatively relate these findings to recent high-frequency conductivity and Nernst effect experimental results, and we briefly discuss the possible consequences for competing theories for the pseudogap state of the cuprates.

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SrTiO3 single crystal surfaces were reduced using an hydrogen plasma cleaning method at room temperature. Transport measurements show that the reduced SrTiO3 surfaces are metallic with mobilities as high as 2.4 × 10 3 cm 2 /Vs at 10 K, comparable to those of bulk single crystals. The average carrier concentration is deduced to be ∼ 1 × 10 18 cm −3 and the reduced thickness ∼ 0.65 µm.

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