Stripe motion in CuO2 planes of Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7 as observed from the Cu(2) quadrupole resonance

The NQR spectra of copper in the compounds YBa2Cu3O7, TmBa2Cu3O7, and Y0.9Pr0.1Ba2Cu3O7 at temperatures of 4.2-200 K are investigated by a pulsed NQR technique at frequencies of 28-33 MHz. Quantitative analysis of the spectra shows that the shape of the "plane" Cu(2) spectra is well described by using a model of 1D correlations of the charge and spin distribution in the CuO2 planes (stripe correlations). In the undoped superconductors the charge-spin stripe structure moves fast in the CuO2 planes, but doping the YBa2Cu3O7 lattice with praseodymium slows this motion down. © 1997 American Institute of Physics