Optical phonons of superconducting infinite-layer compounds Sr_{0.9}Ln_{0.1}CuO_2 (Ln = La, Gd, Sm)

Abstract

We have identifies the otical phonon modes of the superconducting infinite-layer compounds Sr$_{0.9}Ln_{0.1}$CuO$_2$ ($Ln$ = La, Gd, Sm; $T_c$ = 43 K for all) from their infrared reflectivity spectra obtained with a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer on high-quality high-purity samples synthesized under high pressure. The La- and the Gd-doped compounds exhibited only four (2$A_{\rm 2u}$+2$E_{\rm u}$) out of the five (2$A_{\rm 2u}$+3$E_{\rm u}$) infrared-active phonon modes predicted by a group theoretical analysis whereas the Sm-doped compound exhibited all five modes. We propose the atomic displacement pattern for each phonon mode based on reported lattice dynamics calculations and through comparison with the phonon modes of other single-layer high-$T_{\rm c}$ cuprate superconductors.