Pairing properties of correlated three-leg ladders with strong interchain couplings near 1/3 filling

This paper employs the density matrix renormalization group method to study the ground-state properties of a three-leg t-J ladder with strong interchain coupling near 1/3 filling. When holes are doped into the spin-gapped state at 1/3 filling, the pairing correlation function exhibits power-law decay while the spin correlation function decays exponentially; in contrast, electron doping does not significantly enhance pairing correlations. Further comparison with the three-leg Hubbard model shows that the pairing correlation properties of the hole-doped state are similar to those of the t-J model, but require a sufficiently large spin gap. The study indicates that hole doping near 1/3 filling favors superconducting pairing, and this asymmetric pairing property differs from the phase diagram predicted by weak-coupling theory, providing numerical evidence for understanding the electronic properties of tri-layer nickelate superconductors.

pairing strength

1 linked paper

pairing symmetry

17 linked papers

Pairing symmetry and superconductivity in La₃Ni₂O₇ thin films

Using renormalized mean-field theory based on a bilayer (t-J) model incorporating (d_{z^2}) and (d_{x^2-y^2}) orbitals, this study systematically investigates the superconducting pairing symmetry of La₃Ni₂O₇ thin films. Self-consistent solutions reveal (s_\pm)-wave pairing driven by strong interlayer superexchange coupling of the (d_{z^2}) orbital, consistent with the pressurized bulk case, and successfully reproduce the nodeless superconducting gap structure on the (\beta) Fermi surface pocket observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, yielding a calculated superconducting transition temperature of approximately 60 K in agreement with experiments. Orbital-resolved analysis demonstrates that the nodeless character of the (\beta) pocket arises from the cooperative interlayer pairing of (d_{z^2}) and (d_{x^2-y^2}) orbitals, while in-plane pairing between these orbitals generates a (d)-wave component that further enhances the dominant (s_\pm)-wave order. The work elucidates the diverse cooperative and competitive relationships among different pairing channels on the complex Fermi surfaces of La₃Ni₂O₇ films and discusses the potential modulation of pairing symmetry by factors such as substrate strain and oxygen vacancies, providing a crucial theoretical basis for understanding the superconducting mechanism in nickelates.

paramagnetic meissner effect

1 linked paper

paramagnon-interference mechanism

2 linked papers

Pauli-limited upper critical field and anisotropic depairing effect of La₂.₈₂Sr₀.₁₈Ni₂O₇ superconducting thin film

This study employs epitaxial La2.82Sr0.18Ni2O7 thin films (with a superconducting transition temperature of approximately 31.6 K) to systematically characterize the upper critical field and its anisotropy via high-field transport measurements up to 58 T. Near the transition temperature, superconductivity exhibits thickness-limited two-dimensional characteristics; upon cooling, the out-of-plane coherence length decreases to below the film thickness (6 nm), indicating a transition to intrinsic three-dimensional bulk superconductivity. Based on the Ginzburg-Landau model, the zero-temperature in-plane and out-of-plane upper critical fields are determined to be 82 T and 45 T, respectively, yielding an anisotropy ratio γ≈1.34, comparable to that of bulk Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates. At low temperatures, the in-plane upper critical field is strongly suppressed by the spin paramagnetic pair-breaking effect, approaching the Pauli limit (58 T), while the out-of-plane direction remains largely unaffected. This anisotropic Pauli limiting explains the reduced anisotropy of the upper critical field and supports the conclusion that superconductivity in the films is inherently three-dimensional bulk superconductivity. The results highlight the critical role of spin paramagnetic effects in determining the high-field superconducting phase diagram of these nickelates.

Perpendicular electric field induced s^±-wave to d-wave superconducting transition in thin film La₃Ni₂O₇

Inspired by the vertically electric-field-tunable superconducting properties of Ruddlesden–Popper bilayer nickelate La₃Ni₂O₇, this study employs the dynamic cluster quantum Monte Carlo method to solve the imbalanced two-orbital bilayer Hubbard model. By analyzing the electric-field-induced pairing symmetry and its evolution under undoped, hole-doped, and electron-doped conditions, we find that the s±-wave pairing originating from the d_{z²} orbital is suppressed, while the interlayer mismatch of the d_{z²} orbital and the transfer of electrons to the d_{x²-y²} orbital drive a pairing symmetry transition from s±-wave to d-wave. Interestingly, the d-wave pairing arising from the d_{x²-y²} orbital exhibits a dome-shaped behavior as a function of electric field strength. The large-scale many-body calculations are consistent with the predictions of weak-coupling methods, providing new insights into the superconducting mechanism of RP nickelates.

Persistent structural distortions and absent superconductivity in trilayer nickelate thin films

This study systematically investigates the strain effect in trilayer nickelate La₄Ni₃O₁₀ thin films through atomically precise synthesis, electrical transport measurements, picometer-resolution electron microscopy, and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. While compressive epitaxial strain effectively suppresses the parent density-wave order and enhances crystal symmetry (e.g., eliminating out-of-plane octahedral rotations), no superconductivity is observed even under the maximum compressive strain of -2.8%. Critical structural characterization reveals that compressive strain fails to completely eliminate the characteristic in-plane octahedral rotations in the thin films, which exhibit interlayer inequivalence between the inner and outer layers of each trilayer unit and persist robustly. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows that the amplitude of in-plane rotations decreases monotonically with compressive strain but does not vanish entirely. In contrast, in the bilayer system La₃Ni₂O₇, compressive strain fully suppresses all octahedral rotations, thereby inducing superconductivity. These results uncover a key difference between trilayer and bilayer systems, indicating that ambient-pressure superconductivity in trilayer nickelates cannot be achieved solely through epitaxial strain engineering, and alternative tuning methods need to be explored.

phase diagram

6 linked papers