Electronic structure of superconducting nickelates probed by resonant photoemission spectroscopy

Abstract

The discovery of infinite-layer nickelate superconductors has spurred enormous interest. While the Ni${}^{1+}$ cations possess nominally the same 3$d^9$ configuration as Cu${}^{2+}$ in cuprates, the electronic structure variances remain elusive. Here, we present a soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy study on parent and doped infinite-layer Pr-nickelate thin films with a doped perovskite reference. By identifying the Ni character with resonant photoemission and comparison to density functional theory + U (on-site Coulomb repulsion energy) calculations, we estimate U ~5 eV, smaller than the charge transfer energy $\Delta$ ~8 eV, confirming the Mott-Hubbard electronic structure in contrast to charge-transfer cuprates. Near the Fermi level ($E_F$), we observe a signature of occupied rare-earth states in the parent compound, which is consistent with a self-doping picture. Our results demonstrate a correlation between the superconducting transition temperature and the oxygen 2$p$ hybridization near $E_F$ when comparing hole-doped nickelates and cuprates.

28 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (15)

• Quantum ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials
• Electronic structure of quantum materials studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Ground state oxygen holes and the metal-insulator transition in the negative charge transfer rare-earth nickelates
• A superconducting praseodymium nickelate with infinite layer structure
• Nickelate superconductivity without rare-earth magnetism: (La,Sr)NiO${}_2$
• Self-doped Mott insulator for parent compounds of nickelate superconductors
• Late transition-metal oxides with infinite-layer structure: Nickelates versus cuprates
• Phase Diagram of Infinite Layer Praseodymium Nickelate Pr${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$NiO${}_2$ Thin Films
• Anomalously Strong Near-Neighbor Attraction in Doped 1D Cuprate Chains
• Role of $4f$ states in infinite-layer NdNiO${}_2$
• Electronic structure of rare-earth infinite-layer ReNiO2 (Re=La, Nd)
• Orbital and Spin Character of Doped Carriers in Infinite-Layer Nickelates
• Isotropic Pauli-Limited Superconductivity in the Infinite Layer Nickelate Nd${}_{0.775}$Sr${}_{0.225}$NiO${}_2$
• Phonon-Mediated Long-Range Attractive Interaction in One-Dimensional Cuprates
• Magnetic excitations in infinite-layer nickelates

Cited by in corpus (28)

• Ambient-pressure superconductivity onset above 40 K in bilayer nickelate ultrathin films
• Charge density waves in infinite-layer NdNiO${}_2$ nickelates
• Phase diagram of nickelate superconductors calculated by dynamical vertex approximation
• Low-energy electrodynamics of infinite-layer nickelates: evidence for d-wave superconductivity in the dirty limit
• Electronic Structure of Superconducting Infinite-Layer Lanthanum Nickelates
• Synthesis and physical properties of LaNiO${}_2$ crystals
• Two-gap superconductivity and decisive role of rare-earth $d$ electrons in infinite-layer nickelates
• Electronic structure of higher-order Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates
• Role of Oxygen States in the Low Valence Nickelate La${}_4$Ni${}_3$O${}_8$
• On the origin of topotactic reduction effect for superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates
• Synthesis of thin film infinite-layer nickelates by atomic hydrogen reduction: clarifying the role of the capping layer
• Charge Density Wave Ordering in NdNiO${}_2$: Effects of Multiorbital Nonlocal Correlations
• Momentum-resolved electronic structures and strong electronic correlations in graphene-like nitride superconductors
• Assessing the correlated electronic structure of lanthanum nickelates
• Scanning SQUID study of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates
• Charge ordering as the driving mechanism for superconductivity in rare-earth nickel oxides
• Electronic band structure of a superconducting nickelate probed by the Seebeck coefficient in the disordered limit
• Unusual Hole-doping-dependent Electronic Instability and Electron-Phonon Coupling in Infinite-layer Nickelates
• Closing in on possible scenarios for infinite-layer nickelates: comparison of dynamical mean-field theory with angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Possible structural quantum criticality tuned by rare-earth ion substitution in infinite-layer nickelates
• Magnetism-Enhanced Strong Electron-Phonon Coupling in Infinite-Layer Nickelate
• Conductivity of infinite-layer NdNiO${}_2$ as a probe of spectator bands
• Nodeless superconducting gap and electron-boson coupling in (La,Pr,Sm)${}_3$Ni${}_2$O${}_7$ films
• Absence of mixed valency for Pr in pristine and hole-doped PrNiO${}_2$
• Oxide MBE-ARPES at SSRL Beamline 5-2
• Electronic Correlation-driven Exotic Quantum Phase Transitions in Infinite-layer Manganese Oxide
• Layer controlled orbital selective Mott transition in monolayer nickelate
• First-principles Study of Structural and Electronic Properties of Mn-doped Cu2NiXY4 (X=Sn, Ge, Si; Y=S, Se) Chalcogenide Semiconductors