Effect of Zn doping on charge transport in YBa2Cu3O7−y

Abstract

The resistivity and the in-plane Hall coefficient are investigated on Zn-doped ${\mathrm{YBa}}_2$ ${\mathrm{Cu}}_3$ ${\mathrm{O}}_{7\mathrm{-}\mathit{y}}$ single crystals with emphasis on the underdoped spin-gap phase (y∼0.37) where a correlation between charge transport and spin dynamics is clearly seen. The doped Zn acts as a strong potential scatterer on one hand, and induces a local spin magnetic moment on the other even when the charge carriers are not localized. It is found that the characteristic temperature in these transport coefficients, which indicates that a spin gap starts to open, do not change with Zn doping in contrast to a radical depression of the superconducting transition temperature.