Synthesis of infinite-layer nickelates and influence of the capping-layer on magnetotransport

Abstract

The recent discovery of a zero-resistance state in nickel-based compounds has generated a re-excitement about the long-standing problem in condensed matter of high-critical-temperature superconductivity, in light of the analogies between infinite-layer nickelates and cuprates. However, despite some formal valence and crystal symmetry analogies, the electronic properties of infinite-layer nickelates are remarkably original accounting, among other properties, of a unique Nd5d-Ni3d hybridization. This designates infinite-layer nickelates as a new class of oxide superconductors which should be considered on their own. Here we report about Nd1-xSrxNiO2 (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.2) thin films synthesized with and without a SrTiO3 capping-layer, showing very smooth and step-terraced surface morphologies. Angle-dependent anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements performed with a magnetic field rotating in-plane or out-of-plane with respect to the sample surface, rendered important information about the magnetic properties of undoped SrTiO3-capped and uncapped samples. The results point at a key role of the capping-layer in controlling the magnitude and the anisotropy of the anisotropic magnetoresistance properties. We discuss this control in terms of a combined effect between the Nd-Ni hybridization and an intra-atomic exchange coupling between the Nd-4f and Nd-5d states, the latter essentially contributing to the (magneto)transport. Further studies foresee the influence of the capping layer on infinite-layer nickelates with no magnetic rare-earth.

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Evidence for quasi-two-dimensional superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates
• Charge distribution across capped and uncapped infinite-layer neodymium nickelate thin films
• Superconductivity in PrNiO2 infinite-layer nickelates
• Synthesis of thin film infinite-layer nickelates by atomic hydrogen reduction: clarifying the role of the capping layer
• Superconductivity in the parent infinite-layer nickelate NdNiO${}_2$
• $\text{In situ}$ preparation of superconducting infinite-layer nickelate thin films with atomically flat surface
• Unraveling p-type and n-type interfaces in Superconducting Infinite-Layer Nickelate thin films
• Emergent electronic landscapes in a novel valence-ordered nickelate with tri-component nickel coordination
• Signatures of canted antiferromagnetism in infinite-layer nickelates studied by x-ray magnetic dichroism
• Freestanding perovskite and infinite-layer nickelate membranes
• Oxygen sublattice disorder and valence state modulation in infinite-layer nickelate superlattices
• Achieving superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelate thin films by aluminum sputtering deposition