Tunable superconductivity in parent cuprate Pr2CuO4±δ thin films*

Abstract

Abstract We studied the role of oxygen in Pr2CuO4±δ thin films fabricated by the polymer assisted deposition method. The magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity of Pr2CuO4±δ samples were systematically investigated. It was found that with decreasing oxygen content, the low-temperature Hall coefficient (R H) and magnetoresistance changed from negative to positive, similar to those with the increase of Ce-doped concentration in R 2 − x Ce x CuO4 (R=La, Nd, Pr, Sm, Eu). In addition, we observed that the dependence of the superconducting critical temperature T c with R H for the Pr2−x Ce x CuO4 perfectly overlapped with that of Pr2CuO4±δ . These findings point to the fact that the doped electrons induced by the oxygen removal are responsible for the superconductivity of the T ′ -phase parent compounds.