Field-enhanced diamagnetism in the pseudogap state of the cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta) superconductor in an intense magnetic field

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Dec 9;95(24):247002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.247002. Epub 2005 Dec 5.

Abstract

In hole-doped cuprates, Nernst experiments imply that the superconducting state is destroyed by spontaneous creation of vortices which destroy phase coherence. Using torque magnetometry on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta), we uncover a field-enhanced diamagnetic signal M above the transition temperature Tc that increases with applied field to 32 Tesla and scales just like the Nernst signal. The magnetization results above Tc distinguish M from conventional amplitude fluctuations and strongly support the vortex scenario for the loss of phase coherence at Tc.