Evidence for monoclinic distortion in the ground state phase of underdoped La1.95Sr0.05CuO4: A single crystal neutron diffraction study
Abstract
The existing controversy about the symmetry of the crystal structure of the ground state of the critical doped La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 has been resolved by analyzing the single crystalneutron diffraction data collected between 5 and 730 K. We observed small but significant intensities for “forbidden” reflections given by extinction rules of the orthorhombic Bmab space group at low temperatures. A careful investigation of neutron diffraction data reveals that the crystal structure of La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 at 5 K is monoclinic with B2/m (2/m 1 1) space group. The monoclinic structure emerges from the orthorhombic structure in a continuous way; however, the structure is stable below ∼120 K which agrees with other observed phenomena. Our results on symmetry changes are crucial for the interpretation of physical properties also in other high temperature superconductors with similar structures