Superconductivity In An Anomalously Tetragonal Yba2cu3o6.62 Single Crystal: A Possible Singularity In The Structural Phase Diagram

During systematic studies of the structural phase diagram of YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO), a YBCO single crystal of oxygen concentration x=0.62 turned out to have a tetragonal crystal structure. By magneto-optical imaging of the expulsion of an applied magnetic field, it was shown that the sample was bulk superconducting. This makes the sample highly anomalous in two respects: with a stoichiometry of YBa2Cu3O6.62 the sample should have an orthorhombic symmetry, and a tetragonal undoped sample should not be superconducting at all. Our results corroborate previous findings of Topnikov [JETP Lett. 46, 577 (1987)] of a tetragonal superconducting YBCO crystal with x=0.62.