The interplay between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in disordered ultrathin high-T_c films

A series of ultrathin films of DyBa₂Cu₃O_7-x, with properties spanning the zero-field superconductor-to-insulator transition, were prepared for the purpose of investigating the magnetic field driven superconductor-insulator transition. The resistance of these films was found to exhibit a peak whose magnitude became larger with the weakening of the superconductivity of the films. For a film just on the superconducting side of the zero-field superconductor-to-insulator transition, three successive changes in the sign of the low temperature dR/dT with increasing field were found. These have been taken as evidence of the superconducting state being successively excited, reentered, and finally exited with increasing field as the sign changes from positive to negative, to positive, and finally to negative. This unusual behavior may result from an interaction of the carriers with Cu²⁺ ions on the copper-oxygen sheets. These spins exhibit an increasing tendency to antiferromagnetic ordering as the superconductivity of the films is weakened. The presence of many grain boundaries in the films may be the reason the effect is strikingly large.