Spin stripe order in a square planar trilayer nickelate

Abstract

Trilayer nickelates, which exhibit a high degree of orbital polarization combined with an electron count (d8.67) corresponding to overdoped cuprates, have been identified as a promising candidate platform for achieving high-Tc superconductivity. One such material, La4Ni3O8, undergoes a semiconductor-insulator transition at ~105 K, which was recently shown to arise from the formation of charge stripes. However, an outstanding issue has been the origin of an anomaly in the magnetic susceptibility at the transition and whether it signifies formation of spin stripes akin to single layer nickelates. Here we report single crystal neutron diffraction measurements (both polarized and unpolarized) that establish that the ground state is indeed magnetic. The ordering is modeled as antiferromagnetic spin stripes that are commensurate with the charge stripes, the magnetic ordering occurring in individual trilayers that are essentially uncorrelated along the crystallographic c-axis. Comparison of the charge and spin stripe order parameters reveals that, in contrast to single-layer nickelates such as La2-xSrxNiO4 as well as related quasi-2D oxides including manganites, cobaltates, and cuprates, these orders uniquely appear simultaneously, thus demonstrating a stronger coupling between spin and charge than in these related low-dimensional correlated oxides.

34 pages, 10 figures (including SI). Accepted by Physical Review Letters

References in corpus (5)

• Evidence for unusual superconducting correlations coexisting with stripe order in La(1.875)Ba(0.125)CuO(4)
• Bulk magnetic order in a two dimensional Ni1+/Ni2+ (d9/d8) nickelate, isoelectronic with superconducting cuprates
• Magnetic correlations in La2-xSrxCoO4 studied by neutron scattering : possible evidence for stripe phases
• Hour-glass magnetic spectrum in an insulating, hole-doped antiferromagnet
• Unidirectional Diagonal Order and 3D Stacking of Charge Stripes in Orthorhombic Pr1.67Sr0.33NiO4 and Nd1.67Sr0.33NiO4

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Epitaxial growth and electronic structure of Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates (${\mathrm{La}}_{n+1}{\mathrm{Ni}}_n{\mathrm{O}}_{3n+1},n=1-5$)
• Fluctuation-frustrated flat band instabilities in NdNiO2
• Electronic structure and magnetic properties of higher-order layered nickelates: La${}_{n+1}$Ni${}_n$O${}_{2n+2}$ ($n=4-6$)
• Short-range magnetic interactions and spin-glass behavior in the quasi-2D nickelate Pr4Ni3O8
• Limits to the strain engineering of layered square-planar nickelate thin films
• A Nickelate Renaissance
• Spin-density, charge- and bond-disproportionation wave instability in hole-doped infinite-layer $R$NiO${}_2$
• Unifying Strain-driven and Pressure-driven Superconductivity in La${}_3$Ni${}_2$O${}_7$: Suppressed charge/spin density waves and enhanced interlayer coupling
• Observation of correlated plasmons in low-valence nickelates