Study on the in-plane electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power in single crystals of La_2-xBa_xCuO₄

The in-plane electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power have been measured on single crystals of La_2-xBa_xCuO₄ at around x=0.125. The room temperature resistivity and thermopower have their maximum values at x=0.125, indicating that the carrier concentration is the minimum and the carriers are most strongly localized at x=0.125. The observed semiconductor-like behaviour can be well described by the weak-localized quasi-two-dimensional state. The steep rise in electric resistivity of the sample at x=0.125 below 70K is attributed to the formation of static stripe-order of holes and spins, which are pinned by the low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) structure, as discovered in La_1.48Nd_0.4Sr_0.12CuO₄. The temperature dependence of electric resistivity below 70K is still well described by the formula \rho \varpropto \ln T. A definite change in the slope of thermopower is observed at the low-temperature orthorhombic-LTT structural phase transition temperature. The origin of the 1/8 anomaly is discussed in the text.