The phonon densities-of-states of La(1.475)Nd(0.4)Sr(0.125)CuO(4) and La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) were measured using inelastic neutron scattering. The ~70 meV phonon band which appears due to hole doping in La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) is known to arise from strong electron-lattice coupling. This phonon band is strongly suppressed in the Nd-doped compound for which T_c is also suppressed, establishing a link between in-plane oxygen optical phonons and superconductivity. This suppression is attributed to hole localization which becomes strong near the stripe ordering condition of certain cuprates near x=1/8 and competes with superconductivity.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9907211,
title = {Phonons and hole localization in La(1.475)Nd(0.4)Sr(0.125)CuO(4)},
author = {R. J. McQueeney and J. L. Sarrao and J. S. Gardner and M. F. Hundley and R. Osborn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9907211},
year = {2019}
}