Superconductivity and electronic structures of nickelate thin film superstructures | Nature

## Summary
Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Wang, Y. et al. Article ADS CAS PubMed Google Scholar Shen, Y., Qin, M. & Zhang, G.-M. Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Li, Y. et al. Article ADS CAS PubMed Google Scholar Cao, Y.-H., Jiang, K.-Y., Lu, H.-Y., Wang, D. & Wang, Q.-H.

## Article Content
Subjects
Superconducting properties and materials
Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Abstract
Ruddlesden–Popper nickelates have emerged as a crucial platform for exploring the mechanisms of high-temperature superconductivity
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
. However, the Fermi surface topology required for superconductivity remains unknown. Here, beyond the superconducting pure bilayer (2222) phase, we report the thin film growth and ambient-pressure superconductivity of monolayer–bilayer (1212) and bilayer–trilayer (2323) superstructures, together with the absence of superconductivity in monolayer–trilayer (1313) superstructure, under identical compressive epitaxial strain. The onset superconducting transition temperatures range from 46 K to 50 K, exceeding the McMillan limit. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy shows key Fermi surface differences in these atomically engineered structures. In superconducting 1212 and 2222 films, a dispersive hole-like band (γ
ΙΙ
) forms an underlying Fermi pocket, surrounding the Brillouin zone corner. By contrast, the top of the flat band (γ
ΙΙΙ
) is observed at about 70 meV below
E
F
in the non-superconducting 1313 films. Particularly, the superconducting 2323 films host both γ
ΙΙ
and γ
ΙΙΙ
bands. The polarization dependence of the γ bands reveals their Ni
\({d}_{{z}^{2}}\)
origin. Our findings expand the family of ambient-pressure nickelate superconductors and establish a connection between structural configuration, electronic structure and the emergence of superconductivity in nickelates.
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Fig. 1: Comparison of 1212, 2222, 1313 and 2323 nickelate thin films.
Fig. 2: Structural characterizations of 1212, 2222, 1313 and 2323 nickelate thin films.
Fig. 3: Electronic band structures of 1212, 2222, 1313 and 2323 nickelate thin films.
Fig. 4: Polarization dependence of 2323 structure thin film at 103 eV photons.
Data availability
Source data
are provided with this paper.
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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- Recent progress in nickelate superconductors.
- Effective bi-layer model Hamiltonian and density-matrix renormalization group study for the high- T c superconductivity in La 3 Ni 2 O 7 under high pressure.
- Superconductivity in nickelate and cuprate superconductors with strong bilayer coupling.
- Effective model and pairing tendency in the bilayer Ni-based superconductor La 3 Ni 2 O 7 .

### Areas for Consideration
- Nodeless superconducting gap and electron-boson coupling in (La,Pr,Sm) 3 Ni 2 O 7 films.
- Observation of superconductivity-induced leading-edge gap in Sr-doped La 3 Ni 2 O 7 thin films.
- Enhancement of the upper critical field by nonmagnetic impurities in dirty two-gap superconductors.

### Implications
- Go to natureasia.com Buy this article Purchase on SpringerLink Instant access to the full article PDF. 39,95 € Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Fig. 1: Comparison of 1212, 2222, 1313 and 2323 nickelate thin films.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers article, google, scholar topics. Notable strengths include discussion of article. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2344.