Investigations of the interlayer coupling in high-T c cuprates

Low-field magnetizationM(H) measurements can be used to probe the nature of the screening currents and the interlayer coupling in high-T c cuprates. Here we compare theM(H) behaviour of single crystals of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and fully oxygenated and oxygen reduced YBa2Cu3O7−∂. In YBa2Cu3O7, theM(H) behaviour is consistent with anisotropic 3D superconductivity whilst in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, the surface screening currents are strongly affected by the presence of vortices, implying that the CuO2 planes are coupled via a weak Josephson interaction. In oxygen-deficient YBa2Cu3O6.7 (T c =63K), theM(H) behaviour at low temperatures is similar to that found for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, implying that the removal of oxygen from the chains has resulted in a dimensional crossover of the superconducting state in YBa2Cu3O7−∂. As the temperature approachesT c , the 3D behaviour is eventually restored as thec-axis coherence length ξ c becomes comparable with the interlayer spacingd.