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Abstract:
We observe a large and anomalous oxygen isotope effect on the a-axis
component of the far-infrared electronic response of detwinned
(YBa2Cu3O6.9)-O-16,18. For O-18 a pronounced low-energy electronic mode
(LEM) appears around 240 cm(-1). This a-axis LEM exhibits a clear aging
effect, after 1 y it is shifted to 190 cm(-1). For O-16 we cannot
resolve a corresponding a-axis LEM above 120 cm(-1). We interpret the
LEM in terms of a collective electronic mode that is pinned by
"isotopic defects," i.e., by the residual O-16 in the matrix of O-18.