Evidence for two electronic components in high-temperature superconductivity from NMR

A new analysis of 63Cu and 17O NMR shift data on La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 is reported that supports earlier work arguing for a two-component description of this material, but conflicts with the widely held view that the cuprates are a one-component system. The data are analyzed in terms of two components A and B with susceptibilities Chi(A), Chi(B), and Chi(AB)=Chi(BA) . We find that above Tc, Chi(AB) and Chi(BB) are independent of temperature and obtain for the first time the temperature dependence of all three susceptibilities above Tc as well as the complete temperature dependence of Chi(AA)+Chi(AB) and of Chi(AB)+Chi(BB) below Tc. The form of the results agrees with that recently proposed by Barzykin and Pines.