Daily Overview: Today’s highlighted work focuses on a deeper understanding of the electronic structure of mixed-type Ruddlesden–Popper nickelates. Using a first-principles six-band three-layer multiorbital model, Yamakawa and Kontani treat electron correlations within the FLEX approximation and combine vertex-corrected density-wave equations with the Bethe–Salpeter method to systematically study charge-density-wave instability and superconducting pairing in La4Ni3O10. Their central conclusion is that short-range spin-density-wave fluctuations near Q_SDW on the outer NiO2 planes can, through quantum interference, generate an inter-outer-layer bond order with Q_CDW ≈ 2Q_SDW and further induce an inner-layer-centered orbital density wave, causing out-of-phase modulation of the Ni d_{3z^2−r^2} and d_{x^2−y^2} orbital occupations, thereby yielding strong orbital polarization but only weak total charge modulation. This intertwined bond-order–orbital-order state not only explains the layer-selective electronic reconstruction inferred from NMR/NQR but is also consistent with Raman spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy results. Moreover, because the CDW has even mirror parity while the SDW has odd mirror parity, their fluctuations can synergistically stabilize s±-wave superconductivity via the M_z mirror-parity selection rule. This work provides a unified microscopic framework for intertwined density-wave order and high-temperature superconductivity in multilayer nickelates. arXiv submission processing window: 2026-09-23 00:00 to 2026-09-23 00:00 UTC.

1. Quantum-interference-driven orbital density wave and high-temperature superconductivity in trilayer nickelates

Summary: Using a first-principles six-band three-layer multiorbital model, the authors treat electronic correlations within the FLEX approximation and investigate charge density wave instability in La4Ni3O10 using density-wave equations with vertex corrections, while analyzing superconducting pairing by combining FLEX and the Bethe–Salpeter method. They find that short-range spin density wave fluctuations near Qsdw on the outer NiO2 layers generate, through quantum interference, an inter-outer-layer bond order with Qcdw ≈ 2Qsdw; this bond order further induces an inner-layer-centered orbital density wave, which anti-phase modulates the occupancies of Ni d3z2-r2 and dx2-y2 orbitals, producing strong orbital polarization but only weak total charge modulation. This intertwined bond and orbital order explains the layer-selective electronic reconstruction inferred from NMR/NQR and is consistent with Raman spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy results. Because the charge density wave has even mirror parity and the spin density wave has odd mirror parity, their fluctuations can cooperatively stabilize s±-wave superconductivity through Mz mirror-parity selection rules. This work provides a unified microscopic framework for intertwined density-wave orders and high-temperature superconductivity in multilayer nickelates.