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Successive magnetic transitions relating to itinerant spins and localized Cu spins in La2-xSrxCu1-yFeyO4: Possible existence of stripe correlations in the overdoped regime

In order to investigate the relationship between the so-called stripe correlations and the high-Tc superconductivity, we have carried out magnetic susceptibility and zero-field muon-spin-relaxation measurements in partially Fe-substituted La2-xSrxCu1-yFeyO4 (LSCFO). It has been found that the Fe substitution induces successive magnetic transitions in the overdoped regime, namely, a spin-glass transition of Fe3+ spins due to the RKKY interaction based on itinerant spins at higher temperatures and a stripe-order transition of localized Cu2+ spins at lower temperatures. The stripe-order transition disappears at the hole concentration of ~0.28 per Cu which coincides with the endpoint of the superconductivity in pristine La2-xSrxCuO4, suggesting that the stripe correlations are closely related to the high-Tc superconductivity in the overdoped regime as well as in the underdoped regime. As for the spin-glass state, it has been found that the contribution of polarized itinerant spins to the muon-spin depolarization is not negligible. Taking into account neutron-scattering results by R.-H. He et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 127002 (2011)] that a spin-density-wave (SDW) order has been observed in overdoped LSCFO, the present results demonstrate the presence of a novel coexistent state of a SDW order and a spin-glass state.